To click or Not to click

Clickbait has a lot of negative stigmas. The word “compelling” is definitely not in alignment with my personal definition of the word. For myself, clickbait is, “that annoying pop-up, or side ad on my screen trying to get me to spend time or money, makes me wait to skip to my song/show OR after clicking ends in disappointment 95% of the time”.

This is in reference of course to online clickbait, but clickbait is relevant offline as well. Television shows have done this in the past. Producers screen commercials of upcoming episodes making it look as if the drama will be intense the whole episode. In reality, a lot of the time, these episodes are uneventful or the dramatic event lasts for 5 out of the 55 minutes.

So then, what is the difference between this “clickbait” content and real compelling content?

Click-bait content gets the users attention with flashy antics and appeals to the basic demands of the audience. However, once you click this, because the use of antics provides an unrealistic expectation you end up disappointed.

On the other hand, compelling content, at least for myself, both knows how to attract my attention and keep it. I think it is also important to note that what is “compelling” or “fascinating” to one person may not be for another, so compelling content can become a somewhat subjective topic at times.

For example, I would consider Buzzfeed a media outlet that does a good job of producing compelling/fascinating content because their subject matters appeal to current events and social issues and interests. Additionally, as per my definition above, they know how to get our attention with visually appealing photos, interest engaging titles, etc., and then keep our attention with short articles and videos. However, you may disagree and say that Buzzfeed is all clickbait.

Additionally, I believe that compelling content has different expectations online and offline. Online compelling content that really makes us think like articles in the New York Times online or scholarly articles also do a great job or providing compelling content. However, with our current lack of patience as a society if the article is too long I think the word compelling transitions into boring. It is important for online writers and newspapers to understand that majority of people don’t have the patience for a 30 page article. Most of us just want the gist of the story within a page and half. I think for an online article to be deemed compelling you need the right amount of attractive visuals, subject matter, and length in today’s society.

Do I think this is a good thing or the way things necessarily should be? No. However, as society keeps adapting to technology we keep raising expectations of receiving our news within fewer and fewer characters (140 if you’re really good).

However, offline compelling content is not necessarily restricted by these means. Take novels for example. We are not at a point in society where we expect a good novel to be in 140 characters or less (yet). We have shortcuts for getting the main point of the story. These shortcuts include Cole’s Notes, and Sparknotes which give us a brief overview of the plot, themes, and characters when we don’t want to read the whole novel but still want to understand it as a whole. I think in a way these could also be considered clickbait over compelling content because although you are provided the main plot points you miss the voice of the author and the context of the important quotes in the book. Offline or online, most of the time clickbait never ends in complete satisfaction.

Even the shift in language style of novels is an indicator of the shift into what is considered compelling these days. The English language is not nearly as “fluffy” or detail oriented as it was in the past. Two of my favourite books are The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I would recommend either of these books for an amazing read with a compelling nature but not everyone of my friends agrees with me on this because they find the language confusing and unnecessary. We live in a different time where saying what you mean rather than encoding meaning in poetic phrases is considered more compelling and a more interesting segment for majority of the public. I’m not saying this is wrong, it’s just the shift we have made as a society.

So, tell me once and for all Autumn, what is the difference between clickbait and compelling content? Clickbait has no substance. It’s all a capital driven motive to get you to click. Compelling content meanwhile, has a message. It gives us news, stories, facts, and so on. It gets our attention and keeps it. That is why it is important to consider the subjective nature of compelling content and the different types of expectations online and offline compelling content receives.

You can fill a book with useless fluff in an attempt to make a profit and it won’t sell, but for some reason when useless fluff in an attempt to make a profit is put online we click/buy? Think about that next time you go to click. Is this going to be compelling content or is all about just getting the click?

To click, or not to click. That is the question.