Clickbait meaning (what is it, concept and definition)

What is Clickbait:

As clickbait we call all those internet contents whose main objective is to attract attention and encourage users to click on them.

Clickbait is a word from English that we can translate into Spanish as a cyber hook, cyber bait, click bait or click hook. It has a pejorative nuance.

The objective of clickbait is to attract as much traffic as possible to a website in order to generate economic income from advertisements.

To do this, the content with clickbait uses sensational or misleading headlines, which above all have a hook and serve to provoke in the user a curiosity that can only be satisfied by clicking on the content in question, which is generally inaccurate or poor quality or rigorous information.

Furthermore, this type of content encourages people to share it through their social networks, such as Facebook or Twitter.

They are usually content with clickbait celebrity news, viral videos or funny images that capture our attention or stoke our curiosity.

Some examples of typical content titles with clickbait could be the following:

• The 15 most terrifying hotels in California. The 7 you will not believe it. This American Pie actress attended a charity event "naked". This is how Obama responded to Trump. The new generation of smartphones … You will be amazed when you see this Natalie Portman continues to love her ex… and here is the proof

Clickbait is a term coined in the 1990s, but it became popular especially from the middle of the second decade of the 21st century due to its frequent and sometimes dishonest use to capture web traffic.

This is because many times the content with clickbait contains false information, without value or irrelevant to the user.

In fact, many times these pages oblige the user to accept a series of conditions to access the content, among them, obtain information from their profile on a social network and, sometimes, even take control of their accounts and publish on their Name.