Over the past year we’ve noticed a disturbing trend on Facebook, and it has nothing to with the unsolicited updates of how often our mother plays Candy Crush.
The fly in our Vaseline — that’s a 1994 Stone Temple Pilots reference, by the way — is the deluge of click-baiting, cliffhanger headlines we encounter whenever our friends like or repost some sort of shocking, amazing, has-to-be-seen-to-be-believed article or video.
Just today we’ve already been subjected several variations of “WATCH: This Kid’s Reaction to Meeting A Gay Couple For The First Time Is Priceless.” Another headline for the same video informed us that our mind would be “blown” by the video, which we thought was an interesting word choice.
So who’s to blame for this annoying headline trend that makes us think ill of our Facebook friends and society as a whole? The answer will make you soil your jogging pants in astonishment.
Most webwatchers point to the viral content website Upworthy and the Buzzfeeds of the world. According to an article in the Atlantic last year, the huge success of the so-called “Upworthy style headline” is based on creating a “curiosity gap” to entice readers to scratch that itch and see what happens next. “The idea is both to share just enough that readers know what they’re clicking and to withhold just enough to compel the click.”
And to be honest, the thought of millions of web sheep clicking on your teasingly promoted story is an alluring proposition for a newspaper like the Courier as it tries to navigate the vast information superhighway — that’s another 1994 reference, by the way. Which is why, despite our abhorrence to the practice, K&K has decided to “upworthy” the stories in today’s paper… for the sake of our future. Here’s a sampling. You won’t believe how it turned out.
• What you never knew or thought you could know or cared to know about the parent advisory council that’s raising money for playground equipment.
• You won’t believe why this restaurant owner is running for mayor because we find it hard to believe ourselves and it has nothing to do with the two litres of Rockaberry cooler we pounded back last night.
• If you’ve ever thought about planting tomatoes, this might make you rethink your entire relationship with gardening and the existence of God or some sort of higher power that gently guides us but can also be sort of a jerk sometimes.
• What happened at a softball tournament? The answer is more shocking and nuanced than you’ve come to expect from a story on a softball tournament. Seriously, it’s going to make your lower back tattoo jump right off your lower back in amazement, which will in turn totally freak out your friends and make them want read a story that has the supernatural powers to make ink escape from one’s skin. Seriously. For the sake of putting food in the mouths of our children. Please read the story.
