How to Kill Clickbait for Good: Website Owners Hate Him!

It’s an online world, that’s just inevitable at this point. The issue now has become; how do we maneuver through this oversaturated world of content. A quick google search of the word “news” comes up with 9.5 billion results (somewhat surprisingly, “porn” only brings up 2.1 billion), let the absurdity of these numbers sink in.

Now, of course no one has the time to parse through dozens of articles, let alone billions, just to find appealing content. This is where the marketing gurus have to flex their creative writing and psychological manipulation skills, and somehow conquer that insurmountable task of converting passivity to activity. The best of them know it’s all in the headline, the hyperlink, those few words that compel an unsuspecting potential reader to actually consume the content being pushed. This is a good reason to consider what it means to compel; to force or drive, especially to a course of action. If we accept this definition, can we really deny that clickbait is inherently compelling?

Yes. We can, and we should.

Clickbait is a necessary evil, borne out of the struggle for capitalistic gain in an environment where the means of production are available to virtually anybody; where everyone and their dog (literally) generate competitive content.

Clicks are dollars, and any man worth his salt knows that your more likely to hook your prey with the right bait. What it comes down to is integrity, artful mastery, and genuine quality. A massive tackle box full of colorful fishing lures and a box of worms is cool and all, but no where near as impressive as the huntsman wading through the waters with nothing but his spear.

The economist understands why clickbait exists, the purist sneers at it anyway. Yet, the average reader isn’t so necessarily concerned about the quality of the prose, they just want to be informed, entertained, or distracted for a moment. This is why clickbait does have some value. People like lists, they like quirky facts, and sometimes they even like clunky slideshows.

The core issue with clickbait isn’t that it’s worthless, it’s the fact that if your content was compelling enough on its own, you wouldn’t need to resort to such desperate measures; the readers would come anyway.

The ubiquity of social media platforms, however, draws a glimmer of hope in this regard. The constant sharing of content has exposed us all to enough clickbait clichés that many of us just flat out refuse to click on anything with one of those familiar formulaic headlines. What’s important about this trend is it just might signal to the content creators that clickbait isn’t so effective anymore, it could even cost them a decent amount of potential clicks.

Now instead of wringing their hands trying to come with a new innovative way to manipulate the consumer, creators could simply go back to their roots, and let the market forces work their magic. Let the consumer become the distributor. Trust that if you write a good article, or shoot a quality video, the people who do click on it will then go ahead and share it with their social networks. You know what’s way more compelling than a cringe-inducing title? The fact that my friend recommended that piece of content. That’s what makes me want to click on it.

So, do we have a definitive answer? Is clickbait content compelling? I’d argue that coercive is a better description.

Still, I must plead with all of you up-and-coming content creators, don’t settle for the underhanded tactics of old. Dope product sells, that hasn’t changed just because the product is online content.

And YOU, reader, I know you won’t stop clicking on those clickbait articles, I mean you clicked on this one. But hey, when you find some really compelling, quality content that caught your attention on its own merit, go ahead and share it with your friends. Reward their integrity in this cold, calculating world.