Clickbait Apathy: Where next for content?

It seems that every business has woken up to the importance of inbound marketing. From small coffee shops to global tech companies, the digital world has become flooded with blogs, opinion pieces, videos and vines. Content is the new king, and us loyal subjects eat it up like a free buffet at the royal gala.

We are engulfed by content in our daily lives, it is inescapable. As a heavy Twitter user I spend several hours a day reading and watching content, some of it clever and relevant, but the majority shallow, rushed and fleeting.

Buzzfeed has arguably been the pioneer in this space, leveraging viral content to drive huge traffic and corresponding advertising revenue. They are digital crabbers, laying pots of enticing content and harvesting the dollars. Of course, the clicks and eyeballs business model is certainly not unique to Buzzfeed, and their approach is now commonplace.

But recently I have stopped clicking. I have become a grumpy and pessimistic content consumer. “10 things you didn’t know about Tomato juice” or “the 5 hacks to acquire your first 1,000 customers” just doesn’t quite do it for me anymore.

The obvious point here is that businesses (and individuals) need to think carefully about the content they produce and dedicate the resource that it requires. Whilst bad content can still help achieve search engine optimisation (SEO), it can certainly do more harm than good in terms of customer loyalty and reputation.

The less obvious point is that we are all responsible for the digital world in which we live. Clickbait companies fuel a cycle of shallow content and unfulfilling consumption. We need to clean up the digital litter so to speak. We all have the power to stop clicking, and the sooner we realise it the better.

To address the title of this blog, where next for content, I believe we will all become more discerning in our click appetite. Whilst the volume of content on the web has grown exponentially, the number of hours in the day hasn’t. There is only so much crap that we can ingest. At the same time I believe that more social media sites will follow Facebook’s lead in prioritising “good” content in their algorithms (http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/worst-clickbait-ever-seen-ask/). In time, I hope that we might see the end of clickbait headlines and gimmicky content as businesses and individuals realise the importance of relevant, engaging and value adding material. In the short term, however, i’m not holding out too much hope.