Does Clickbait Work?

[Captain Caveman]

I think it does.

 

[Judge]

Absolutely. So much so that it's completely out of control on YouTube.

If this was not the case, there would not be such a flood of deception, false advertising and military/political disinformation that abounds there. Perhaps worst of all, to see such practices regarding even the most trivial of subjects, all in the pursuit of that crucial mouse-click.

If it wasn't working for content providers, I doubt it would be so prevalent as it has become.

 

[Grondhammar]

I think the title of this thread should be, "Someone used clickbait, then THIS happened!"

If I see it, no matter who uses it or the content, I skip it. There's a linguist I follow who has some very good content but who uses it for some of his videos. I'll never know what he has to say in those. Sad.

 

[Dagan]

It does, but in most cases, it also is exactly said user's undoing. I'd have to talk about the film industry to prove this, and I don't know that I should go off on that tangent just yet.

 

[TBRS1]

The title of this thread is clickbait.

Has anybody responded?

 

[Outdated]

There's a lot of content out there that's so deliberately and obviously fake, but if the title catches people's attention many will click on it. And about half of them will believe every word of it true.

[previous video was blocked by user, I'll try again]

This is so obviously ridiculous but has 130,000 views:

 

[Grondhammar]

Just from the Photoshopping (lack of) quality in the thumbnail, I'd doubt anything in that video... even if I were the type to miss "million of".

 

[Outdated]

Just from the Photoshopping (lack of) quality in the thumbnail, I'd doubt anything in that video... even if I were the type to miss "million of".

I don't understand why they think anyone would send donkeys in to the desert, it just doesn't make sense. We have plenty of other feral animals in our desert regions, goats, camels, pigs and cats, but that climate just isn't suitable for donkeys. We actually export camels to Saudi Arabia.

In the south east of the country where the climate is temperate we have feral horses and deer, and quite likely a few donkeys as well. They're pest animals that cost us millions to control as we attempt to eradicate them.

 

[TBRS1]

There's a lot of content out there that's so deliberately and obviously fake, but if the title catches people's attention many will click on it. And about half of them will believe every word of it true.

[previous video was blocked by user, I'll try again]

This is so obviously ridiculous but has 130,000 views:

I wouldn't fall for it.

Australians have more cause to hate imported species than any other nation on earth.

 

[SusanLR]

And I thought you were posting something about fishing. Really.

This is a click bait lure.

 

[Outdated]

Australians have more cause to hate imported species than any other nation on earth.

I think we're about to increase our biosecurity restrictions too. Typical for us though, after we've already got problems instead of preemptively. For decades Tasmania had a thriving potato industry, McDonalds used Tasmanian potatoes all over the world for it's fries because Tasmania grew the biggest potatoes in the world.

Now Potato Mop Top Virus has infected all potato crops across the entire state. A disease we were completely free of until just last year. This is why when you come to Australia you are not allowed to bring any food of any kind, when you come through customs they search your bags and any food or anything made of plant materials will be confiscated and incinerated. The trouble is that private planes aren't as stringently monitored as regular passenger flights and rich nobs think laws are only for the proletariat.

We're also one of the last places in the world that doesn't have Rabies, Johnny Dep found out how seriously we take that disease when he tried to smuggle his dogs in to the country on his private jet. Since then he's been persona non grata in Australia and it took him 3 months to get his dogs back out of quarantine.

 

[Judge]

One of the dynamics of YouTube that drives me bonkers is when they say something incredulous as a tagline with an outrageous (and fake) graphic to match, but then after going through a lengthy presentation that whatever was claimed in a tagline (the hook) was never explained. Likely untrue anyways.

 

[Outdated]

One of the dynamics of YouTube that drives me bonkers is when they say something incredulous as a tagline with an outrageous (and fake) graphic to match, but then after going through a lengthy presentation that whatever was claimed in a tagline (the hook) was never explained. Likely untrue anyways.

As far as I can tell that's also how politics works in the US.

 

[Grondhammar]

As far as I can tell that's also how politics works in the US.

I'm having trouble deciding between the "funny", "informative", and "agree" emoji on this one. I just know I'm not putting "optimistic".

 

[Judge]

As far as I can tell that's also how politics works in the US.

From my perspective that's indicative of politics in all democracies. Particularly those who have held elective office for a very long time. Having pacified most of their constituents just enough to be reminded in the next election cycle. And the next, and the next after that.

However in YouTube I see this dynamic happening on a much broader basis than in any one subject. It's demoralizing to see so many content creators so actively depending on subterfuge only to present the most benign messages to the public.

 

[Dagan]

My mind is clearer today. I will explain what I meant per the film industry.

Trailers for films but also very much everything about reviews (full of spoilers) are backfiring on the industry, but it's absolutely their doing. How many film trailers have you seen in the last ten years, but when you watch the movie, there's scenes from said trailer that just weren't even in the movie? This has happened a lot, and folks have not been happy. That's clickbait...and switch. That can ruin the film and kill it from theatrical attendance. Then there's the industry's choice of using bots, influencers, review sites and/or just the internet in and of itself. They use all of these formats online to hype and promote their film, and the same formats turn around and blast spoiler filled videos or just one spoiler pic heavily captioned all over social media....and wa laa....no one goes to the theater after your film has just been released for only 24 hours. This is coupled with all of the crying, whining and complaining that theaters are dying - the theater going public are going away. "Why, oh, why is no one going to the theaters anymore!?" That's why. The industry heads are rather stupid to this, as they just keep doing it. Morons.

 

[Judge]

My mind is clearer today. I will explain what I meant per the film industry.

Trailers for films but also very much everything about reviews (full of spoilers) are backfiring on the industry, but it's absolutely their doing. How many film trailers have you seen in the last ten years, but when you watch the movie, there's scenes from said trailer that just weren't even in the movie?

Yep. That's a very real element of post-production marketing.

Having nothing to do with creativity or the intent of a director or editor. When studio and advertising "suits" have post-production control of the product and won't hesitate to use even scenes which wound up on a cutting-room floor just to push a manipulative marketing narrative rather than an artistic one to insnare theatergoers.

A process that can indeed alienate and backfire with an audience if they are too reckless about how they depict the actual film just to manipulate a potential audience.

 

[Nervous Rex]

Clickbait might not work on you as well as on others, according to this article:

Why Advertising Falls Flat in Individuals With Autism

Most relevant text from the article:

People with autism are better than the rest of us at filtering out extraneous contextual information in order to make rational economic decisions. For them, the package color and the products it is surrounded by are irrelevant to whether or not they put it in their basket. Instead, the autistic shopper focuses on what really matters: ingredients, price, and the necessity of even owning the product. Time and again they select the best product for their needs regardless of how it is displayed.

To test whether having autism affects rational decision-making, researchers offered participants with and without ASD three versions of the same objects, told them only two things about each, and asked them to choose which to buy. Two of the objects had legitimate advantages over the other. The third existed only to make one of those two products more appealing. Rationally, the inferior “decoy” should have been ignored.

For instance, imagine three USB drives: Drive A has a large capacity but a relatively short lifespan; drive B has a smaller capacity and a longer lifespan; the decoy drive C has a middling capacity and shorter lifespan than either A or B. Objectively, drive C should be ignored. But instead, the data revealed that people with neurotypical brains are typically distracted by the decoy object, and would switch which USB drive they preferred depending on whether or not the decoy was shown. Those with ASD made more rational and consistent choices.

 

[Grondhammar]

@Nervous Rex, that's both hilarious and fascinating. Great find!

I worked for a research bureau many years ago. Part of their job was to test messaging... basically, spin-doctors for whatever customer came through the door. This was in a pretty narrow scientific specialty and well before social media existed.

Anyway, they liked to include me as one of their trial-run people, even though my job had nothing to do with the wordsmithing. This was because I came to be seen as the "canary in the coal mine"... the person who could be relied on to be totally un-swayed by the spin put on things and point out factual errors or inconsistencies in what they were saying.

This was long before my diagnosis. Very funny that there's a research study behind this.

 

[Nervous Rex]

This was because I came to be seen as the "canary in the coal mine"... the person who could be relied on to be totally un-swayed by the spin put on things and point out factual errors or inconsistencies in what they were saying.

That's awesome!