Don't Do It For the Clicks..

Samantha Schilder

"Do it for the like." The common new phrase of the upcoming generations. Many are going out of their way to capture attention of not only the public, but their social media audience. How far would you go to make sure you were in the spotlight? Or should we say, how much is too much?

The crazy rebellious 16 year old who is doing any thing for the most likes on Instagram is almost worse than the hundreds of digital writers on the web. Are they going too far to get your attention? Has technology made us a little too dramatic? Dramatic maybe, but entertaining, yes definitely.

Being the social media "junky" that I am, I live to discover new blog posts or pictures that I know will only lead me to discovering so many more. The fancy-eye-catching headlines that now fill our timelines are leading people to read, share and comment, bringing attention to articles that aren't necessarily newsworthy. According to the Columbia Journalism Review only a small percentage of people actually read the stories they are sharing. Digital editors of today are attaching pictures and changing headlines to draw you in.

Studying journalism one of the biggest things you learn is to have a catchy headline, that's short and sweet but gets to the point. Following social media and the headlines I come across I have began to stay clear of specific headlines, especially regarding political topics. With problems occurring across the country, news is traveling fast and it is important to realize where we are getting our information.

I opened up my Facebook in search of a newsworthy-catchy headline. The first thing on my time line wasn't an article about which celebrity did this or “15 Guys Explain Why They Date Women Over 30." The first thing I see is regarding the current debate over refugees.

Facebook Article

As a Facebook user/college student, the majority of my news comes from social media. I click on the article because it's catchy and brings my attention to a topic I am aware of as well as majority of the Facebook users, Anne Frank. The current debate over refugees in the US is far beyond our knowledge of Anne Frank. The click and bait strategy is counteracting the importance of newsworthy information. A young naive reader is only believing what they are seeing, although they may not read the whole article they will always remember the headline that got them there. A majority of the writers that use catchy headlines aren't the most credible--believe what you see when it comes to entertainment but beyond that stick to the basics.

To the journalists of the future, we may go above and beyond for the likes, shares, comments and retweets, but remember where news started, it was black and white, cut and dry and got to the point. Don't forget the basics when it comes to being the best, although our headline may get us there it is important to stay true to our number one job; Seek truth and report it.