Lately, my personal Facebook feed has been filled with headlines written specifically to get me to click on them by using clever manipulative words and hyperbolic phrases, often including "we" or "you" as if we're buddies.
Just this morning, I was thrown these nuggets:
"Probably one of the best skating videos ever created: Kilian Martin's 'Altered Route' "
"What if NOTHING is IMPOSSIBLE? Funniest video ever!"
And this especially annoying one:
"This 3 Minute Video Made Me Cry, And I Never Cry. Must See For Everyone."
Websites such as Mashable, Huffpost and Upworthy specialize in headlines like these. Seldom does the actual content match up to the headline, especially when they tell you HOW to feel. But people click and share them all the time, every day. So they work enough times that people don't feel totally suckered.
I've been enticed myself on a regular basis because every so often, the headline does live up to the hype. (For the sake of principle, I refused to click on the ones above.)
For purposes of my job, I try to to entice people to read my stories on my blog via Twitter and Facebook. And I'm sure I'm guilty of my fair share of Upworthy style headlines. But I really try not to make someone feel like they've been manipulated or mislead.
Here are recent stories I wrote with the actual headline vs. "click bait" headlines I just made up that should blow your mind into smithereens:
Actual headline:
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Fox Sports, Dish TV in second year of dispute impacting 51 weekend Braves games this year
Click bait headline candidates:
This Dish TV dispute will make you think twice about ever paying the satellite service ever again
or
This dispute means Dish TV subscribers will never see BJ Upton strike out again on a weekend!
Actual headline:
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Kandi Burruss of ‘Real Housewives’ gets married
Click bait headline:
This wedding could have been the worst nightmare ever
or
Did Mama Joyce ruin Kandi Burruss' wedding and turn her life into living hell?
Actual headline:
Why hasn’t anybody hired the 2 Live Stews?
Click bait headline:
Could this be the most bone-headed decision ever made by a local radio station?
or
A sign of the radio apocalypse: the 2 Live Stews still unemployed!
Actual headline:
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
CMT’s popular ‘Party Down South’ moves to Athens from South Carolina
Click bait headline:
This news will make Athens residents scream in shock and frustration
or
Athens to become the next "Jersey Shore" thanks to these idiots
Actual headline:
What happened between Porsha Williams and Kenya Moore during RHOA reunion taping?
Click bait headline
The most vicious "Real Housewives of Atlanta' attack ever? Read the gory details here
or
This "Real Housewives of Atlanta" fight will make you lose faith in humanity
Actual headline:
‘Scandal’ recap (‘Mama Said Knock You Out’): season 3, episode 15 (which is actually a search engine optimization friendly boring headline, not click bait friendly)
Click bait headline:
Six reasons why this "Scandal" episode will make your eyes pop out of your head
Proof that Shonda Rimes is a genius yet again
Actual headline:
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Rick Springfield drops by ‘Drop Dead Diva’
Click bait headline:
This video of Rick Springfield will make you wish it was 1981 all over again
Actual headline:
Exclusive: Streetz 94.5 signs The Breakfast Club from NYC, drops Rashan Ali
Click bait headline
The most shocking radio news you'll get all day
Find out whose radio job just went kablooey thanks to the Breakfast Club
About the Author
