Trolling For #Clickbait

Courtney Smith
cs340114@ohio.edu

Photo Credit : stateofdigital.com

Clickbait
As journalists attempt to keep up with society today, they are faced with all of the new trends in media and more specifically, on social media. In the past, the way to get readers' attention and initial interest in a story was with a creative and enticing headline accompanies with a cohesive lede that made them want to read more. Fewer and fewer readers are clicking on articles or stories just from a creative headline. This doesn't seem to be enough for today's media consumers. Lately, the approach that is being used is clickbait.

Merriam-Webster defines clickbait as, "something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink especially when the link leads to content of dubious value or interest". In other words, stories are presented with headlines that make readers feel as though they HAVE to click because they want to know the information. The problem with clickbait is that it can be used to trick readers into thinking they're clicking on something that they're not.

Beyond Journalism
Not only is this an issue in the journalism world, but also in the media production world with websites such as YouTube. Accounts are being attacked and made fun of for using clickbait in their video titles. One of the most notorious internet celebrities that uses clickbait in video titles is a YouTuber that goes by the username, "blndsundoll4mj" otherwise known as Trisha Paytas.

Paytas is a 29-year-old based out of Los Angeles, California that began her career as an internet personality back in 2006. She has a total of 2.9 million subscribers on her YouTube channel and has accumulated over one billion views through her various videos.

Paytas has received copious amounts of hate comments on her videos because of the title clickbait that she presents to viewers. For example, Paytas used the title, "A vampire is stalking me (not clickbait)" in a story time video on her channel where she sat alone in her kitchen telling a fictitious story about vampires. Though viewers found this humorous, they began to become upset with the way Paytas utilized her titles just to increase viewership on her videos, thus increasing her paycheck.

Trolling
One of the articles posted for this week discussed using clickbait to "troll" readers. The article discussed how journalists are using clickbait to increase traffic and viewership of their work. This is not a new idea in the journalism world, although it is one that has been developed from other tactics.

For example, the article discussed the idea of slate pitching. Slate pitching essentially refers to an idea that sounds wrong or counterintuitive that is presented by journalists to readers as though it is correct and should be respected. This is a tactic that journalists utilize through presenting headlines such as, "Brunch Is for Jerks". Readers that come across articles with headlines like these feel obligated to click on the article in an effort to understand where the logic is coming from.

The Bottom (Ethical) Line
In order to remain ethical as professionals in the world of journalism, we must refrain from engaging in tactics such as clickbait and trolling. It is our duty to provide readers with accurate information in all aspects of our professional work, including the headlines.