This couple I knew got married last year and you will not believe what happened to them next!
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Um, stop looking for the whole story. We all know what happened next!
You dived right into a common clickbait trap (lol)!
Don’t believe it?
Let us jog your memory.
How many times have you found yourself clicking on such news pieces? In fact, not just clicking, studies have shown that 6 out of 10 people share such headlines on social media without even reading the actual news.
But what happens when we actually do read the entire news piece?
Well, we’re left underwhelmed. We are usually promised an unbelievable story with a twist but what we get instead is some low-quality content with little substance and an uncalled attack of ads.
Why do we click then?
Well, clickbait articles are like Amazon’s Great Indian Festival sales — hard to resist! The headlines indicate that we are missing out on important information and we obviously cannot let that happen. So naturally, we act to bridge the curiosity gap or in this case, click!
We click a clickbait-y headline and our brain immediately releases happy hormones. The anticipation of reading intriguing news alone floods our brain with dopamine.
We all seek thrill that way, we love to be shocked. We’re naive, wide-eyed and waiting for our minds to be blown, and so we click.
Is clickbait the yellow journalism of the digital world then?
It was the competition between Pultizer and Hearst that gave rise to Yellow Journalism. The term that came to be associated with newspapers that present little or no legitimate, well-researched news while instead using eye-catching headlines for increased sales.
Pulitzer and Hearst might have given rise to yellow journalism but it is social media’s clickbait news that is carrying their legacy forward today.
However, the real question is, will Gen Z just grow accustomed to clickbait news like they did with skipping ad banners or…
Will they eventually seek a way out?
Seems like Gen Z is not the one to wait!
YPulse’s Gen Z & Millennials Have Very Different News Sources study found that Gen Z and Millenials are now less likely to say that they get their news from social media with Gen Z decreasing from 58% in 2019 to 49%, and Millennials dropping from 65% to 50%.
There is no doubt that trust plays a role in young consumers’ slow-down in using social media as a primary news source. A shift in the market trend has already begun.
But is clickbait a good enough reason to push Gen Z off the social media OR is there a bucket full of reasons just waiting to be spilled?
Well, I guess only time will tell. But till then you know what you can do…just hit that clap button!
