Wednesday Words: Clickbait

Today's word is Clickbait, or as I love to put it "Bad headlines that don't tell you jack about the story." Which is pretty much what Clickbaiting is.  Clickbaiting is writing a headline that encourages readers to click on it to find out the whole story.  They are designed to pique your curiosity and are often headlines like "You Won't Beleive What Happens Next" or "This One Weird Trick Works".  Then you find that you actually do belive what happens next or duh, of course that trick works.

As of this year (2015) Facebook is actively working against Clickbait articles, trying to have an algorithm to where they don't appear as high in feeds when shared by folks and the origial poster. I applaud Facebook for taking steps to exterminate clickbaiting.

If you are considering sharing clickbait articles, please don't.  It's annoying and only makes people distrust you and your brand. Create unique, intriguing article headlines that attract people rather than creating a lie to draw them to your page and website.

Good luck!

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media. These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media. You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.