WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.720 What happens on this episode of TechWiki will absolutely shock you. Well, maybe 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:11.519 not. And don't worry, we haven't sold the channel to Buzzfeed. Today's episode 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:15.280 is all about clickbait, a certain style of content and headline writing that's 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:20.680 geared towards trying to get people to click on something as much as possible, 00:00:18.240 --> 00:00:26.080 often at the expense of quality information. But what makes clickbait 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:29.920 clickbay anyways? The answer lies in our own psychological tendencies. As 00:00:28.400 --> 00:00:34.559 different as people are, there are certain things that the brain generally 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:39.040 just really likes. Information presented in an ordered list, for example, is 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:45.120 especially appealing, which is why you always see the slideshows of the 17 most 00:00:42.239 --> 00:00:50.559 important One Direction moments or whatever. These work because they spread 00:00:47.680 --> 00:00:55.120 information in a structured way and also present themselves with a degree of 00:00:52.640 --> 00:01:00.399 authority. A list with a precise number of elements seems more certain and has 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:04.320 more finality than a general headline. It's very appealing to our brains, which 00:01:02.480 --> 00:01:08.640 want to cut through the crap and understand things quickly. Very ironic 00:01:06.960 --> 00:01:13.040 considering the lists themselves are often completely freaking useless. And 00:01:11.360 --> 00:01:16.960 even for click- baity headlines that don't direct you to a numbered list, the 00:01:14.880 --> 00:01:23.680 use of authoritative sounding words such as science, the best, or destroyed is 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:29.280 common in order to appeal to that same desire for certainty in our lives. Which 00:01:26.880 --> 00:01:33.520 also explains why many articles that try to promote half-baked things like 00:01:30.960 --> 00:01:39.200 political opinions claim that a certain argument destroys the other one. Other 00:01:37.119 --> 00:01:43.840 clickbait headlines flip the script of how journalism was usually done in the 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:49.600 past by merely teasing at what the content has inside. Instead of dog bites 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:51.560 man, you see this man confronted a dog 00:01:49.600 --> 00:01:56.159 and you won't believe what happened next. This encourages the user to click 00:01:54.479 --> 00:02:00.799 through instead of giving away the articles meat right in the headline. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:05.840 This kind of direct appeal to our natural curiosity results in the reward 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:09.360 center of our brain lighting up when you find out what the answer to the 00:02:07.119 --> 00:02:14.640 click-baity question or tease in the headline was. Even if the content inside 00:02:11.920 --> 00:02:20.080 turns out to be totally stupid. This has often been referred to as the curiosity 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:25.599 gap, which is a key part of how the website Upworthy operates. Upworthy's 00:02:22.720 --> 00:02:30.080 tendency to only place hints as to the actual content in their titles has led 00:02:27.760 --> 00:02:35.519 their articles to being some of the most shared content on all of Facebook. And 00:02:33.519 --> 00:02:40.319 of course, clickbait has gone beyond legitimate sites, well, as legitimate as 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:44.640 they can be, to being used in ads designed to look like real articles. 00:02:42.400 --> 00:02:47.560 Although quite a few techsavvy users have developed an eye for what's 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:52.319 legitimate content and what's advertising or just use an ad blocker or 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:58.800 something, the enticing headlines still draw a lot of people and have for a long 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:03.120 time. Indeed, the arguable ancestors of modern clickbait are the vapid but 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:08.400 eye-catching headlines of yestery year. From the yellow journalism in New York 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:12.959 City that preceded the Spanishamean War in the late 1800s to grocery store 00:03:10.720 --> 00:03:18.800 tabloids claiming that the royal family is actually from Mars. With this sort of 00:03:16.120 --> 00:03:23.599 sensationalism playing to some pretty fundamental aspects of human nature, I 00:03:21.440 --> 00:03:28.560 wouldn't expect clickbait to go away anytime soon. But don't worry, I promise 00:03:26.480 --> 00:03:33.599 you that you'll never see a TechWiki episode titled The 22 Cutest CPUs you'll 00:03:31.920 --> 00:03:37.920 see all day. With a linda.com membership, you can watch and learn from 00:03:35.599 --> 00:03:42.640 top experts who are passionate about teaching and their field. These top 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:47.280 experts have thousands of videos for ondemand courses that you can learn on 00:03:44.799 --> 00:03:51.360 your own schedule and your own pace. You can browse each course transcript to 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 00:03:52.959 --> 00:03:58.159 actually like a lot personally. Taking notes as you go is easy, and you can 00:03:56.560 --> 00:04:02.319 refer to them later on. You can even download tutorials and watch them on the 00:03:59.920 --> 00:04:05.439 go, including access on your iOS or Android device. Create and save 00:04:03.920 --> 00:04:09.439 playlists of courses that you want to watch to customize your learning path or 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:12.640 share with friends or colleagues or even team members. So whether you're looking 00:04:10.959 --> 00:04:17.600 to become an industry expert, you're passionate about just some random hobby, 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 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 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:29.520 forget to get subscribed, and let us know in the comments down below if 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:33.520 there's some like psychology of something style episode that you'd like 00:04:31.520 --> 00:04:37.199 us to check out in the future. Don't forget to click on this video, which 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:41.680 hopefully has a clickbaity title so you actually do it and has something to do 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:45.680 with it's super fun or something. Have fun over there. You're you're super 00:04:43.520 --> 00:04:50.160 interested in what may or may not have happened. You'll never guess. Yeah.