My Clickbait Worked … But Not For Me
Five years ago I wrote a blogpost, 6 Reasons Not to Use VBA. It’s by far the most viewed post on my website and continues to receive comments. Hostile comments. And not because no one knows what Excel VBA is. (Not important here).
Here’s the story.
The Sleazy Truth
To increase traffic to my young Microsoft Excel-focused website I followed some marketing advice and wrote a titillating headline. A bold headline that takes a clear, typically unpopular position. So, rather than other titles like:
- 6 Warnings When You’re Learning VBA Coding
- Watch Out For These When You’re Learning VBA
I went with the more provocative:
- 6 Reasons Not To Use VBA
In the article, I implied that while there are 6 reasons to avoid VBA, there are also 100s of reasons to use VBA. But the negative angle is what got all the attention, even with a statement like this:
“Excel VBA is splendid. I set it to run a task that took 48 hours, while I went on with my life and occasionally checked to ensure that the job was still running. My only warning is that VBA is like sriracha: you can over-do it.”
The very first comment came almost immediately after the blogpost went live, and called my blogpost dumb. The visitor painstakingly went through, one by one, and countered each of my 6 reasons. But what’s really interesting is that he confirmed the 6 reasons as things to watch out for, and he offered great solutions.
Still. For 5 years the comments have continued to trickle in, and the vast majority are voicing disagreement with something we all really agree with — even the comments that were too vile to approve for publishing on the website. We’re all on the same side!
We All Got Played
It would be easy to dismiss the commenters as idiots who don’t read. Or, I could repeat what a friend did to me back when Klout was relevant. He posted an outrageous statement on Facebook. I jumped in and kept the argument going for a couple of hours. Eventually, this friend sent me a message thanking me for increasing his Klout score by 2 points in one night.
Yeah. Ok. Piss people off for slimy reasons, then rub it in their faces.
In my case with the blogpost, I really wanted to deliver a good message, and assumed that people would read the article and share the knowledge.
However, the click-bait headline did what it was supposed to do: provoke people. It also set a combative mood that attracted extreme perspectives. It primed people to look for reasons to agree or disagree, and every discussion was tainted with wrong or right instead of inquiry and contribution.
So, Who Wins?
As each person surfs through, leaves a comment and moves on with their lives, I’m the one who continues to get the web traffic, and 5 years later I’m still fielding hostile comments.
I think about the battle for attention the internet has become. There’s so much incentive to use clickbait and espouse outrageous ideas for 2 reasons:
- simply to be noticed
- to avoid being the noble chump who goes unnoticed.
And what’s the result? Nastiness. Distraction. Missed opportunities. Unnecessary grief.
Let’s Play for Real
The past two years I’ve focused on my YouTube channel and it’s been a lot of fun.
Hell yeah, Excel tutorials can be fun.
Starting from a place of service, empathy and authentic self-expression, video has been the perfect medium. It’s much easier to convey a tongue-in-cheek message or comedically overdramatize something trivial, and still share knowledge.
One of the most fun tutorials explains joins in Excel’s Get & Transform. It ends with a video clone and dancing to the song “Give it To Me” by Timbaland, Nelly Furtado & Justin Timberlake. Fun song with an appropriate hook:
“we ain’t here to hurt nobody.”
The response has been exhilarating. People have enjoyed the videos. The conversations — and disagreements — have been productive. And the results … WOW!
- People comment that an Excel technique in a video rescued them from hours of tedious work.
- I’ve seen other creators perk up, step beyond dry how-to tutorials, and add more personality in their work.
- It’s lead to opportunities outside YouTube and the internet to teach, share knowledge and get to know great people.
So, no. I ain’t here to hurt nobody. Let’s appreciate each other and have some fun.
