10 things to know about Clickbait... the 5th will really surprise you!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Clickbait is a way for content creators to get your attention and make you click to go visit their website (like we just did). More often than not, their titles are misleading, false or just made to get your attention.

We decided to make our own top 10 list of things to watch for to see if an article is Clickbait or not.

1. A title that gets your attention

When you see something that starts like:

• You won't believe your eyes [...]
• What this man has done is incredible [...]

You can be sure that what you're about to read is nothing but Clickbait. 

2. They often use a top 10

Of course, it's not always top 10. Some articles even get to top 50! Most of the times, they only show the first top 3 and, of course, you have to click "Next" to view the others (oftentimes, you have to do that more than once to get through their entire list). Their goal is to increase their statistics, as well as their ad revenues (to the expense of their users' experience). You can recognize these types of articles with titles that look like: 

• Top 10 of the greatests sites to visit in Quebec
• Top 10 of the best restaurants in Montreal
• Top 10 of the scariest sites in the world

3. The title often refers to something as being incredible or surprising

Another way content creators get your attention is by taking something normal and making it unbelievable. Here are a couple of examples I've seen recently: 

• At first glance, this garage seems normal, but wait until you see what's inside!
• You won't believe what this man can do with just a pair of cisors and an old sock.

4. The title brings up strong emotions

Another way they use to bring users to their website, is with the promise that you'll be overwhelmed by something. You can recognize these with titles such as: 

• What this dad does after receiving this letter from his daughter will take your breath away.
• The reaction his son gets after learning about his dark secret will make you cry.

5. The use of a QUIZZ

This kind of Clickbait is, for me, the worst. Not only is it a trap, but more often than not, they manage to get access to all your confidential data (list of friends, your interests, e-mail, etc.). Here are a couple of examples that I've seen: 

• I took this IQ test and got an IQ of 174, which is better than 99.7% of the entire population. What's your score?
• I took this test and learned that in my previous life, I was Julius Caesar! Who were you?
• According to this test, my soulmate is Angelina Jolie! Who is yours?

Of course, all the information they give are false and they only give you flattering information so that you want to publish it and encourage your friends to do the same. Our tip of the day: don't answer any quizzes!

6. They bend the truth to their advantage

One of the worst articles I've seen actually came from a real news organization: CNN (yes, for some time now, CNN has started to Clickbait their users). The title went like this: 

• Ashley Olsen found dead in Italy

Of course, they aren't talking about one of the world-reknown Olsen twins, but some poor, unknown actrice that only shares the same name as one of the twins.

7. Completely fabricated or useless content

These are the least worst of the list. You'll find some fake news (e.g.: actualite.co website) or articles that are in fact, an exageration of a real news story.

Websites like actualite.co and journaldemourreal.com are, more often than not, articles that are meant to make you laugh, or just to trick someone who believes everything they read on the Internet. All you need to do is pay attention to the source and, if you find that news to be too hard to believe, it's because it probably is fake.

8. They talk about people who did something

They're often articles that offer a list of sexy or degrading pictures. You can find articles with titles like: 

• 46 stars that you won't believe are fighting this horrible disease
• 50 child actors who lost their good looks

9. They talk about things that you should do

In this case, we're talking about websites like sante-nutrition.org (sorry, they don't even deserve to get a link!). They write articles that talk about the goodness (or badness) of this or that food, all the time using the popularity of natural products while thinking that the majority of readers will never take the time to verify their sources. Here are a couple of titles I've seen lately: 

• 10 reasons why you should eat some chia
• 15 reasons why you should never drink milk
• Remove all the toxins from your body thanks to these gluten-free products

10. They use our desires or phobias

In this case, they play on our most elemental or emotions, whether it's our desires or our fears. For example, a large number of the populatin suffer (without even knowing it) from trypophobia (fear of irregular paterns of holes) and some articles take advantage of that fear to make you click on their website to view unbelievable images like: 

Of course, all these kind of pictures are photoshopped. Most of the time, they simply take some body part and mix it up with a picture of a photoshopped lotus flower (as seen below).

You now have the tools you need to detect Clickbait articles. Don't hesitate to share this article with your friends so they to know stop falling victim to Clickbait!