8 ms·
How the HuffPost gets us to click
- code_duck 15y agoSo... the headlines refer to things that you don't know, but want to know after you read the headline. In other words, things that interest you, phrased to be interesting. Is that a surprising tactic?
- zlotty 15y agoNot surprising, just fascinating how good they are at it. Each headline begs a simple "who, what, how, why" question. Often I click on things I don't even care about because I...just...have...to...scratch...that...itch!!! :)
- nethsix 15y agoNot sure how many people become immune to such enticing headlines after a while and how these may undermine a domain branding, e.g., people may stop clicking on search results pointing to that domain.
- kevinalexbrown 15y agoEven if you develop a tolerance, it might be the case that the regular news doesn't seem as interesting or enticing anymore. While other news sources might actually summarize in a headline, and so deprive you of that need-satisfaction dopamine loop, HuffPo creates the itch (WHO was it?) and then scratches it once you click (AHH, Rick Perry).
- gujk 15y agoHuffPo knows that the population smart enough to do this is a minority. It is interesting that HuffPo bucks the trend of Google-friendly keyword-stuffed headlines, and instead drives for linkbait title to win social media link juice.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- grusk 15y agoThe way around this is to hover over the links to see the real headline from the url.
- zlotty 15y agoThey just keep coming! http://avisweblog.tumblr.com/post/11938001673/haha-even-better-than-before-arianna-please http://avisweblog.tumblr.com/post/11938001673/haha-even-bett...
- webfuel 15y agoThe title of the post is ironic.
- cagenut 15y agoThey A/B test the headlines too, so all the editors who've been at it for a few months get a real good feel for what headlines work.
- kwanbis 15y agoI'm sorry, but the images are so blurry I can hardly read them. I'm the only one?
- Aramgutang 15y agoKeep waiting, it took quite a while for the hi-res version to finish downloading for me (and there's no indication of progress).
- kwanbis 15y agoThanks, you where right.
- MichaelApproved 15y agoYahoo does this on their homepage. Gets me all the time.
- par 15y agoThis has been going on with news organizations and 'above the fold' titles for decades now.