Donald Trump has an ILLIGITIMATE son, and you'll NEVER guess who it is!

                Ha! I got you to click on that! You fell into my trap!

                So, in case you haven’t noticed, I will not be talking about Donald Trump or any of his sons, illegitimate or otherwise. I will be addressing another issue, one that you have just fallen for. Clickbait.

Why Does Clickbait Work?

We have all seen a YouTube video called like “Everyday habits that are actually KILLING YOU,” and we all know what happens next. You say, “Ugh. Clickbait. Why do people still fall for stuff like this?” Then you scroll down, but you can’t get that video out of your head now. You know it’s clickbait. You know that when you watch the video, it’s just going to say something obvious like “Smoking is a habit that many people have that is actually very detrimental to your health,” and maybe you don’t even really care about what deadly habits you have. You just have to know what the video was going to say. It’s in your mind now. You fight back, but it has already won. You think “Why am I doing this?” and you click the video.

                Don’t worry. This has happened to all of us. You’re not some kind of freak for wanting to know what the weirdest things found in New York sewers were. However, you have fallen for the oldest trick in the proverbial book. Clickbait. We’ve all heard of it, but how does it really work? Why do you click on something that you know will not deliver on the promise to shock and amaze you? How does someone force your curiosity to get the better of you?

                First, we must start out with the basics of clickbait. What does all clickbait have to have? What makes clickbait clickbait? Well, let’s start off by breaking down the components of a suggested YouTube video (one of the ones on the side bar,) or a shady link at the bottom of your favorite pirated movie site. Basically, the video has 2 spots to sell itself to you. The title, and the thumbnail. The quintessential and well-formed click-baity title has to fit 4 criteria. It has to have shock factor. No one is going to click on a video called “4 AMAZING shades of green,” it needs to be surprising and potentially dark enough to pique the morbid curiosity of the viewer. It also needs to be open ended. What I mean by this is that it must appeal to the viewer’s curiosity again by giving away little enough information that they don’t quite know what the video will be about, but enough to interest them. Next, it must be concise. You only have a few words to capture the reader’s attention, and so you must make every word count. Finally, it must effectively use all-caps. After all, what would a good clickbait-y title be without the artfully positioned and extremely annoying all-caps?

                The second medium the video can use to draw the viewer in is the thumbnail. A good thumbnail must be interesting enough to draw the reader in, but also not give enough away. If the thumbnail shows too much, the reader will feel satisfied, and not click on the video. However, the thumbnail must also have some draw, as well as a promise for more. This could be a freeze-frame of someone about to fall over, or creepy security camera footage, but whatever it is, it must give a small taste of what is to be shown in the video while still withholding information to make the video look worthwhile.  Finally, it must be bold and stand out. One common technique to make a video stand out is putting large text or symbols in the thumbnail image. For example, you could put the phrase “WTF?” In large red block lettering, next to a picture of some mysterious object found out at sea. You could also circle a portion of the image, and add red arrows. All of these things will snare the viewer, and make them really want to click the video, adding to the pile of those precious views.

                So how does this all come together, and why does this work? Why are people so inquisitive, and why is our inquisitiveness so easy to exploit. Well, this concept is actually nothing new. It has been around for way longer than the internet. Anyone who has gone to a grocery store checkout aisle knows that tabloids do this kind of thing all the time. So have some companies. Clickbait is simply a very effective advertising process that plays off of people’s natural morbid curiosity. Something about human nature makes us fascinated with things that are dangerous, disturbing, gross, or are considered to be taboo.  It’s something of a “forbidden fruit” case, where we all are fascinated by what we know we should not be fascinated with. “Why?” you ask. Well, simply put, in nature curiosity is an asset. It is essentially a driving force that compels us to explore our environment, thus collecting knowledge that can be used to our benefit later, such as where certain foods can be found, or where are good places to take shelter. Like stress, curiosity is an instinct that is largely not needed in today’s world, so it manifests itself in other (sometimes less useful) ways. This is why we are so drawn to the strange, and unknown, and cannot resist something we know we should not be interested in. This is why the very nature of clickbait makes it work on us. We know that we shouldn’t click on that link, but that just makes us want to click it more. So no, you’re not a freak for wanting to know who Donald Trump’s illegitimate son is, you’re just the unfortunate victim of my schemes and human nature.