Whoa! Facebook is taking a positive step, or so it seems. They’re trying to diminish the influence of “click-baiting.”
I’ll let Facebook explain.
“Click-baiting” is when a publisher posts a link with a headline that encourages people to click to see more, without telling them much information about what they will see. Posts like these tend to get a lot of clicks, which means that these posts get shown to more people, and get shown higher up in News Feed.
You know the ones. Any head which includes, “You won’t believe,” “Unbelievable,” “Caught on camera,” or “The most…” gets on the list.
The trailblazer here was probably the Facebook scam with a suggestive photo and “You won’t believe what her father did after…”
Buzzfeed does this a lot. “21 Questions All Insanely Hot People Are Tired Of Answering.” Like I need them to tell me!
The first problem with click-bait is it’s unsatisfying to the person who clicks. That’s you!
Second, bad hyped content drives good content out. Is TLC still The Learning Channel? Does MTV play music? Did Larry the Cable Guy host a show on the History Channel? Schlock sells.
Google’s search algorithm changes have helped limit the reach of spammy content farms. Maybe Facebook’s change will seal-the-deal?