The document discusses the rise of clickbait content and the death of quality journalism online. It describes an experiment where the author tracked clicks on various types of links shared on Facebook, finding that clickbait content like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge received hundreds of clicks while insightful articles by reputable sources received only a few. This suggests people are more likely to engage with simplistic, emotionally-driven content over well-researched news stories. The author concludes this will influence media companies to prioritize clickbait content if they want to succeed financially.
The Rise of Click Bait, Death of Quality Content, and What We Can Do About It
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The Rise of Click Bait, Death of Quality Content, and
What We Can Do About It
2. Last week the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge exploded on the scene -
as worthy a cause as they come - and has raised over $40 million to
fund research for a devastating disease!
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As a case study, I think it’s emblematic for
how ideas and information get shared today.
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Observing it taking off last week, I decided to track clicks on a few
links on my Facebook feed to see what I could learn. What I found
fascinated me.
3. Over recent years, we’ve witnessed the rise of “click bait”
and death of quality content.
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Impressions, clicks and conversions drive digital advertising
today - which is what funds online media (since people have
demonstrated repeatedly that they won’t pay for it).
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Do people care about this issue? 4 clicks tell me “no”.
4. The brilliant and funny John Oliver took on the issue of Native
Advertising, which is sponsored content passed off as editorial.
Stats
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Did Oliver’s fantastic video grab anyone? At just 12 clicks,
I’m still thinking “no”.
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46 clicks in 24 hours. Posted at 3:00, peaked at 4:00
Controversial topic, but apparently not too controversial.
8. What about a beautiful, 6-second time lapse
lovingly showing one woman’s pregnancy?
Stats
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72 clicks over 3 days
Posted on a Friday, the post was shared once, and
clicks tapered off over the weekend.
By most accounts, this is a quick and easy video to
watch (just 6 seconds) that could appeal to anyone.
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64 clicks over 3 days
Posted on a Thursday and clicks peaked the next day on
Friday.
I do my best to avoid politics and religion for the reason I
explained in the post. People click but rarely comment, I
suspect, for the same reason.
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Or a brainless and
moderately useful infographic?
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24 clicks over 4 days
Posted on a Thursday and clicks peaked that day, tapering off
over the weekend.
Images tend to perform well on the Facebook newsfeed. This
is strong but not exceptional performance.
14. What about well-considered insightful
content produced by the pros - notorious
click-baiting publishers?
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At one and two clicks, respectively - not so much.
15. Now… on to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge!
Stats
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218 clicks over 5 days!
Posted on a Tuesday and clicks peaked the next day, dropping
off after.
Buzzfeed and the movement toward “click bait listicles" have
proponents for traditional journalism rightly concerned - as
this post’s performance underscores.
17. Stats
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Sir Patrick Stewart
shows us
how it’s done.
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2,299 clicks (and counting!) over 5 days
Posted on a Friday, shared 71 times (!!!), and clicks
peaked on Saturday.
This, to me, illustrated better than anything I’ve seen
how information spreads. It’s wonderful - and awful.
19. I’m not suggesting the stats I collected here represent true trends,
as they do not represent total traffic patterns.
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Rather, these stats simply show the ability of one person’s
personal Facebook profile to drive “free” traffic.
20. I find it fascinating how the future of media is completely up to us.
If we click on, say, Kardashian articles instead important news stories,
content producers will observe this and work to generate content they
know will perform best - as their business model rewards them for
that. In fact, this is what they’re doing right now.
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I don’t know how to fix this, but
I figured you might also want to know.