Items tagged with clickbait
The spread of misinformation and fake news via the internet is running rampant. As both a news writer and teaching assistant/college professor, I am in the unique position of not only battling misinformation online, but also in a university classroom. A Stanford University study recently discovered that many preteens and teenagers are unable to detect fake news, despite having tools at their disposal to to determine the validity of content. These future voters and leaders were unable to tell whether or not the articles they read were legitimate, accurate, or unbiased. Social media does not appear to be helping the issue. Facebook, as well as many other sites, have been accused of interfering...
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When Facebook said this about clickbait....I WAS SHOCKED! But for real; Facebook recently announced that is attempting to cut down on the amount of clickbait that appears in user’s News Feeds. Facebook users complained about clickbait….AND YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! The website states that “our goal with News Feed is to show people the stories most relevant to them- ranking stories so that what’s most important to each person shows up highest in their News Feeds.” Facebook notes that users mentioned that they like seeing authentic posts the most, and are incredibly put-off by clickbait titles.Facebook first worked to define clickbait titles. They categorized titles by considering two...
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If you use social media at all these days, you've undoubtedly noticed the rampant proliferation of viral headlines. From advertising "Local woman loses 55 lbs of belly fat using one weird trick," to Upworthy's self-righteous spewing twaddle "This man found 3,654 war orphans, 62 kittens, and Jesus at Arby's -- You Won't Believe What Happened Next," clickbait linkspam abounds across the Internet. Now, Facebook is itself stepping in to lend a hand -- and hopefully turn off the spigot. Facebook is going to do this in two different ways. First, it's going to crack down on headlines that give limited information but encourage clicks. The idea is that if people actually engage in substantive discussion...
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