Member-only story
Why Click-baiting is OK and How to do it Right
An Objective Mirror to Click-bait Culture
Let’s begin with addressing the cringe we hate to admit — Clickbait works. that’s the larget reason it exists, IT WORKS.
Just look at the Medium’s Guideline for good writing that addresses this issue:
There are a lot of places on the Internet for clickbait. Medium doesn’t want to be one of them.
The other guidelines being “Don’t Copy”, “Write a Clear Headline”, “Clean it up”, the choice of words on Click-bait avoidance seems like a mild threat from playful girlfriend. Granted, Click-bait on Medium looks and sounds different than on shady facebook feed or Buzzfeed stories but it baits just the same.
While on alternative media you might find baits that hook you up with “You wont believe”, go on to promise a bite-size read with “…these 6 things” and promise a high point with “(#4 will kill you)”, on Medium things are much subtler. Here is what my medium feed looks like, I made minor edits to the original titles so that the authors are not offended:
7 Reasons Why You Will End Up Being Mediocre in Your Life
There is a secret to Creating…