{"id":21310,"date":"2018-02-03T08:44:14","date_gmt":"2018-02-03T15:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=21310"},"modified":"2018-02-08T22:15:30","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T05:15:30","slug":"7-certain-signs-of-clickbait-no-5-will-shock-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2018\/02\/7-certain-signs-of-clickbait-no-5-will-shock-you\/","title":{"rendered":"7 certain signs of clickbait \u2014 No. 5 will shock you!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Click\"<\/a>

Some clickbait is easier to resist than others.<\/p><\/div>\n

Editor’s note<\/strong>: Occasional correspondent Bruce Lohof typically writes about politics and international affairs. Today he turns his attention to a more mundane but no less maddening subject.<\/em><\/p>\n

Clickbait, according to\u00a0Merriam-Webster, is that internet thing that\u2019s \u201cdesigned to make readers want to click on a hyperlink, especially when the link leads to content of dubious value or interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clickbait might not mean much to you \u2014 or at least not as much as you\u2019re willing to admit \u2014 but it\u2019s important to publishers. In the age of the internet, clicks are evidence of circulation. It may even be said that clicks are<\/em> circulation.<\/p>\n

A major online publication is major because of the major number of clicks that it attracts. True, you may be clicking a newscast or an aria on YouTube or the State of the Union address while I\u2019m clicking on \u201c6 tax breaks for pet owners you can actually get.\u201d But we\u2019re both clicking, both to a publisher\u2019s benefit.<\/p>\n

So, adopting the style of the genre, let’s look at the seven certain signs of clickbait. Beware; it’s an unsavory collection:<\/p>\n

One<\/strong>, a clickbait headline usually begins with a numeral, a modest numeral, usually smaller than 10, and usually an odd number: 3, 5, 7, 9.\u00a0 Although many of us are innumerate, we\u2019re drawn to numbers, particularly if they don\u2019t involve mathematics or even simple arithmetic.<\/p>\n

Why are the numbers usually odd? We don\u2019t know; we find it odd. But, of course, any small list of things \u2014 3 things, say, or 7 \u2014 can attract our attention without triggering our Attention Deficit Disorder, which is a side-effect of this info-drenched internet age. \u201cThere are only 5 things on this list,\u201d you tell yourself, \u201cand one or three of them may be important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two<\/strong>, one or three of the things on the list may<\/em> be important to you. Take \u201c7 tips for online safety,\u201d for instance, or \u201c5 tips for losing weight\u201d or \u201c9 worst money mistakes people make in the name of love.\u201d Since you\u2019re online as we speak, you\u2019re eager to know that you\u2019re following the 7 tips and that, therefore, you are safe. Losing weight?\u00a0 Who among us isn\u2019t hungry for those 7 tips? In the name of love? You\u2019ve already (a) made money mistakes and (b) been in love. What was that about? You may be a click away from knowing.<\/p>\n

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>Three<\/strong>, clickbait, as we\u2019ve just seen, is often about money. Witness \u201c9 reasons your health insurance premium is skyrocketing\u201d or \u201c10 signs you\u2019re not saving enough for retirement\u201d or \u201chow to live comfortably on minimum wage\u201d (whoops, where\u2019s the numeral?) or \u201c6 signs you need to check your credit report ASAP.\u201d Money is the second most persistent subject on the average Montana mind. I\u2019ve forgotten what\u2019s in first place, but you\u2019re not surprised to see that clickbait has money on its<\/em> mind.<\/p>\n

Four<\/strong>, clickbait is often local: \u201c15 best restaurants in Montana\u201d and \u201c50 richest people in each state\u201d and \u201c5 best dentists in each state\u201d and \u201cstates where people spend the most on towing\u201d (whoops, the numeral has disappeared again). That sort of thing.\u00a0 Clickbait\u2019s focus on the local is easy to understand: local is where we live. Is one of these fifteen restaurants located near me? Or one of those dentists? And who are<\/em> the 50 richest people in Montana?<\/p>\n

Five<\/strong>, unfortunately, clickbait often tells you something you already know. For instance, try to find \u201cTips for Online Safety\u201d that don\u2019t include these provisos on passwords: make each password unique, change passwords often, and don\u2019t use QWERTY (duh!) or your high school mascot (which you\u2019ve already shared in your Facebook pages). And you don\u2019t even want to open \u201c10 signs you\u2019re not saving enough for retirement.\u201d Trust me. You\u2019re showing all of the signs and, no, you\u2019re not saving enough for retirement.<\/p>\n

Six<\/strong>, if clickbait doesn\u2019t tell you something you already know, it usually disappoints you. None of the \u201c15 best restaurants in Montana\u201d is within a 100 miles of your location. Ditto the \u201c5 best dentists in each state.\u201d And those \u201c50 richest people in each state\u201d?\u00a0 Your name is not on the list \u2026 any list \u2026 in any state. Neither is the name of anyone you know. As Tallulah Bankhead famously noted, \u201cThere is less in this than meets the eye.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seven<\/strong>, beware of the clickbait that feeds \u2014 or feeds on \u2014 your anxieties (\u201cStates where people spend the most on towing\u201d). Or that feeds on your greed (\u201c10 sources of nontaxable income\u201d). Or on civil discontent (\u201c11 bizarre things the U.S. government spent money on\u201d).\u00a0 You will seldom close clickbait calmer than you were when you entered.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the top seven, folks.\u00a0 As I warned at the top, it\u2019s an unsavory collection. Perhaps I should have thought of that before I clicked on \u201cThe 7 Certain Signs of Clickbait.\u201d\u00a0 While I\u2019m here, though, I\u2019ll quickly visit \u201c6 Tax Breaks for Pet Owners You Can Actually Get.\u201d What\u2019s with that?<\/p>\n

Bruce A. Lohof is a native of Montana. A former professor and a retired diplomat, he lives in Vienna and in Red Lodge.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: Occasional correspondent Bruce Lohof typically writes about politics and international affairs. Today he turns his attention to a more mundane but no less maddening subject.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":21311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3864],"tags":[6718],"class_list":["post-21310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-clickbait","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21310"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21379,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21310\/revisions\/21379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}