clickbait

it means what you think it means: bait for clicks. it’s a link which entices you to click on it.

the “bait” comes in many shapes and sizes, but it is usually intentionally misleading and/or cr-ssly provocative. clicking will inevitably cause disappointment. clickbait is usually created for money.

one common type is adverts and spam, such as you might find on a random website or in your facebook feed. such clickbait usually leads to a site which tries to sell you something or possibly extort you, by withholding the promised “bait”. typical examples include: a s-xy picture which promises to show more; suggestive and intriguing captions, like “you won’t believe what this hot girl did”; stories designed to inflame people, such as by playing on political p-ssions, like “woman demands more benefits to pay for comfort eating”; and claimed weight loss methods or body building methods, often with some “weird easy trick”.

the second main variety is headlines to media sites which make money from page views. common offenders are buzzfeed, and gawker and its affiliated sites. the headlines are designed to cause maximum provocation or interest, but as a result are frequently extremely exaggerated or flat out lies, and the articles themselves are often just as shoddy.
thanks for wasting my time with this lying clickbait, random gawker editor. congratulations, you’ve gotten your two cents out of me. now off you go and spend it on your favourite brand of cheap gin – the one you swill at night as you silently shed tears whilst contemplating your miserable, tortured existence and failed journalism career.
when a news article or link has a provocative t-tle in order to get you to click on it.
even though it’s actually total sensationalism bullsh-t.
t-tle
‘president obama loves kkk!?’

“hey what the f-ck, deshaun you see this sh-t?”
“ahah man, that sh-t’s just click-bait!”
*click*
“obama loves the krispey kreme’s new special item, ‘krispey glazed bear claws.'”
(noun, pejorative) a seemingly innocent posting on social media that contains a link to more content, but whose true goal is to trick the viewer into clicking on the link so that the writer can collect view stats — usually for monetary or for narcissistic purposes.
that tweet on how to get girls/guys was just clickbait — it linked to some book on amazon.

that posting in my stream t-tled “what this person did for that will amaze you!” was just clickbait and linked to a paid advertis-m-nt video.
an eyecatching link on a website which encourages people to read on. it is often paid for by the advertiser (“paid” click bait) or generates income based on the number of clicks.
this is not news, really. it’s click bait, the stuff pageviews are made of.

or

this is the worst article i’ve ever read, clearly from a m-ssive microsoft hater or paid by apple/google. it’s just paid fud clickbait, wouldn’t expect any better of news.com.au. source: whirlpool forum 21 oct 2012.
an urban dictionary reader searched the term “click bait.” what happened next will shock you.
i’m never gonna click that link–there’s no story there. it’s click bait!
a cheap tactic used to gain views. common types of clickbait are misleading t-tles (you won’t believe what happens next!) or more recently with the rise of custom youtube thumbnails, misleading thumbnails-most commonly b–bs.
1) there are so many clickbait articles here. who writes this stuff anyway?

2) anything from flashgitz. seriously.
an article with a t-tle designed to make the reader want to hear about it, they often will claim to improve your life in some way.
examples of commonly found clickbait:
american billionaires want this video banned!
69 foods that are actually bad for you!
new genius pill legalized
this american mother makes $2000 dollars a day from home.