Aaaah, clickbait. We've all seen it many times before: there's an enticing-looking headline - and possibly an enticing-looking image - and then, it takes us to a mundane article which just leaves us disappointed. I'm sure it's happened to all of us before (and I've fallen for it more times than I would like to admit ) - but, to make ourselves feel better about it, we can post them in this thread to shame the news sites that misled us like this .
I'll start with a headline I saw on BBC News this morning. I don't normally associate them with clickbait (in fact, they usually have the opposite problem: dull-as-dishwater headlines which don't get people interested in the subject at hand!). However, they're certainly not immune, as the following example shows:
(Click to enlarge)
When you go to the article, it'll tell you what this "lifesaving food" is. So, what is it? Some kind of miracle mushroom that wards off cancer? Or perhaps a Brain Berry that protects the mind against Alzheimer's and dementia? Nope, it was just....fibre. Yeah, there was a study about how fibre reduces the risk of heart disease, in addition to its well-known benefits to digestion. It shouldn't be too hard to come up with a descriptive headline that still engages people - but, instead, the BBC decided to cover this story the way that BuzzFeed would cover it .
(For the record, I didn't even look at "Five surprising things that affect weight": you can if you want, but it's probably a waste of your time, because that headline is obvious clickbait as well. I'm guessing someone at the BBC is too bored or disgruntled to do their job properly today ?)
So, have you seen any bad examples yourself that you'd like to share?
I'll start with a headline I saw on BBC News this morning. I don't normally associate them with clickbait (in fact, they usually have the opposite problem: dull-as-dishwater headlines which don't get people interested in the subject at hand!). However, they're certainly not immune, as the following example shows:
(Click to enlarge)
When you go to the article, it'll tell you what this "lifesaving food" is. So, what is it? Some kind of miracle mushroom that wards off cancer? Or perhaps a Brain Berry that protects the mind against Alzheimer's and dementia? Nope, it was just....fibre. Yeah, there was a study about how fibre reduces the risk of heart disease, in addition to its well-known benefits to digestion. It shouldn't be too hard to come up with a descriptive headline that still engages people - but, instead, the BBC decided to cover this story the way that BuzzFeed would cover it .
(For the record, I didn't even look at "Five surprising things that affect weight": you can if you want, but it's probably a waste of your time, because that headline is obvious clickbait as well. I'm guessing someone at the BBC is too bored or disgruntled to do their job properly today ?)
So, have you seen any bad examples yourself that you'd like to share?
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