1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:06,720 What happens on this episode of TechWiki will absolutely shock you. Well, maybe 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:11,519 not. And don't worry, we haven't sold the channel to Buzzfeed. Today's episode 3 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:15,280 is all about clickbait, a certain style of content and headline writing that's 4 00:00:13,599 --> 00:00:20,680 geared towards trying to get people to click on something as much as possible, 5 00:00:18,240 --> 00:00:26,080 often at the expense of quality information. But what makes clickbait 6 00:00:23,519 --> 00:00:29,920 clickbay anyways? The answer lies in our own psychological tendencies. As 7 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:34,559 different as people are, there are certain things that the brain generally 8 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:39,040 just really likes. Information presented in an ordered list, for example, is 9 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:45,120 especially appealing, which is why you always see the slideshows of the 17 most 10 00:00:42,239 --> 00:00:50,559 important One Direction moments or whatever. These work because they spread 11 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:55,120 information in a structured way and also present themselves with a degree of 12 00:00:52,640 --> 00:01:00,399 authority. A list with a precise number of elements seems more certain and has 13 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:04,320 more finality than a general headline. It's very appealing to our brains, which 14 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:08,640 want to cut through the crap and understand things quickly. Very ironic 15 00:01:06,960 --> 00:01:13,040 considering the lists themselves are often completely freaking useless. And 16 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:16,960 even for click- baity headlines that don't direct you to a numbered list, the 17 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:23,680 use of authoritative sounding words such as science, the best, or destroyed is 18 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:29,280 common in order to appeal to that same desire for certainty in our lives. Which 19 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:33,520 also explains why many articles that try to promote half-baked things like 20 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:39,200 political opinions claim that a certain argument destroys the other one. Other 21 00:01:37,119 --> 00:01:43,840 clickbait headlines flip the script of how journalism was usually done in the 22 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:49,600 past by merely teasing at what the content has inside. Instead of dog bites 23 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:51,560 man, you see this man confronted a dog 24 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:56,159 and you won't believe what happened next. This encourages the user to click 25 00:01:54,479 --> 00:02:00,799 through instead of giving away the articles meat right in the headline. 26 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:05,840 This kind of direct appeal to our natural curiosity results in the reward 27 00:02:03,439 --> 00:02:09,360 center of our brain lighting up when you find out what the answer to the 28 00:02:07,119 --> 00:02:14,640 click-baity question or tease in the headline was. Even if the content inside 29 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:20,080 turns out to be totally stupid. This has often been referred to as the curiosity 30 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:25,599 gap, which is a key part of how the website Upworthy operates. Upworthy's 31 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:30,080 tendency to only place hints as to the actual content in their titles has led 32 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:35,519 their articles to being some of the most shared content on all of Facebook. And 33 00:02:33,519 --> 00:02:40,319 of course, clickbait has gone beyond legitimate sites, well, as legitimate as 34 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:44,640 they can be, to being used in ads designed to look like real articles. 35 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:47,560 Although quite a few techsavvy users have developed an eye for what's 36 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:52,319 legitimate content and what's advertising or just use an ad blocker or 37 00:02:50,319 --> 00:02:58,800 something, the enticing headlines still draw a lot of people and have for a long 38 00:02:55,840 --> 00:03:03,120 time. Indeed, the arguable ancestors of modern clickbait are the vapid but 39 00:03:01,120 --> 00:03:08,400 eye-catching headlines of yestery year. From the yellow journalism in New York 40 00:03:05,599 --> 00:03:12,959 City that preceded the Spanishamean War in the late 1800s to grocery store 41 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:18,800 tabloids claiming that the royal family is actually from Mars. With this sort of 42 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:23,599 sensationalism playing to some pretty fundamental aspects of human nature, I 43 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:28,560 wouldn't expect clickbait to go away anytime soon. But don't worry, I promise 44 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:33,599 you that you'll never see a TechWiki episode titled The 22 Cutest CPUs you'll 45 00:03:31,920 --> 00:03:37,920 see all day. With a linda.com membership, you can watch and learn from 46 00:03:35,599 --> 00:03:42,640 top experts who are passionate about teaching and their field. These top 47 00:03:40,319 --> 00:03:47,280 experts have thousands of videos for ondemand courses that you can learn on 48 00:03:44,799 --> 00:03:51,360 your own schedule and your own pace. You can browse each course transcript to 49 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:54,959 follow along and search for an answer or skip to that point of the video, which I 50 00:03:52,959 --> 00:03:58,159 actually like a lot personally. Taking notes as you go is easy, and you can 51 00:03:56,560 --> 00:04:02,319 refer to them later on. You can even download tutorials and watch them on the 52 00:03:59,920 --> 00:04:05,439 go, including access on your iOS or Android device. Create and save 53 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:09,439 playlists of courses that you want to watch to customize your learning path or 54 00:04:07,599 --> 00:04:12,640 share with friends or colleagues or even team members. So whether you're looking 55 00:04:10,959 --> 00:04:17,600 to become an industry expert, you're passionate about just some random hobby, 56 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:21,359 or you want to learn something new, head over to linda.com/techquicky and sign up for 57 00:04:19,840 --> 00:04:26,000 your free 10-day trial. Thanks for watching, guys. Like it if you liked it, disliked if you disliked it. Don't 58 00:04:23,759 --> 00:04:29,520 forget to get subscribed, and let us know in the comments down below if 59 00:04:27,199 --> 00:04:33,520 there's some like psychology of something style episode that you'd like 60 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:37,199 us to check out in the future. Don't forget to click on this video, which 61 00:04:35,360 --> 00:04:41,680 hopefully has a clickbaity title so you actually do it and has something to do 62 00:04:39,199 --> 00:04:45,680 with it's super fun or something. Have fun over there. You're you're super 63 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:50,160 interested in what may or may not have happened. You'll never guess. Yeah.