Talk:Clickbait/Archives/2018

Latest comment: 6 years ago by Anachronist in topic Examples / categorization


Examples / categorization

I was mulling over this topic, and realized there are some predictable patterns that don't cover all cases, such as:

  • Use of numbers or lists: "10 things you need to know about...", "25 ways to..." with each enumerated item a separate page to click through, to maximize ad exposure. This is probably the most common.
  • Use of non-specific "this" or "it": "This ______ will....", for example "This plant will revolutionize pollution clean-up", or "These fell from the sky and they're tasty", "We fact-checked three times, now let's take it worldwide"
  • Unsubstantiated puffery terms, similar to what we have in WP:PEACOCK
  • Use of personal pronouns: "You won't believe..."

I find some casual research done by individuals, such as attempt to separate clickbait into 9 categories.

There's been some scholarly content also: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=clickbait

This article would benefit from the addition of examples, as well as some references to scholarly works rather than mainstream stories. ~Anachronist (talk) 17:19, 29 May 2018 (UTC)