E-training for personal data management and privacy

Clickbait, Clickbaiting

Clickbaiting (from click and bait) is a media-critical term for the practice of advertising content on the World Wide Web in order to achieve more page impressions and thus, among other things, more advertising revenue through Internet advertising, subscriptions to paid content behind a paywall or greater brand awareness of the target page or author.

A clickbait usually consists of a headline and a teaser that create a so-called curiosity gap. They tell the reader just enough information to make them curious, but not enough to satisfy that curiosity, similar to a cliffhanger. The headline can be supplemented or replaced by graphic elements with the same function.

The articles behind a clickbait are usually well equipped with facilities for quick sharing on social networks, which increases the access numbers as well.