This is what the copy actually said, to better understand my ramblings. Yes, that sucky intro was part of the copy:
Hello, welcome to Anti-Click, where I read click-bait so you don't necessarily have to. Filmed on location at scenic wherever I find wifi, I am your host, Amanda, and I blow at introductions, so let's get to it.
They say inspiration is the mother of invention, and MTV News's article "Science Finally Explains Why You Get 'Daria' And All Her Sarcasm" definitely inspired this vlog. If you're sitting there thinking science has better things to do than tell you why you get Daria, you are absolutely right. It was not a slow science week. Rather, a group of researchers at John Hopkins University investigated why some stroke survivors have difficulty detecting sarcasm and found that damage to the sagittal sreatum could be to blame. Daria was attached to an actually interesting news story as an afterthought. Can MTV News not report news without a pop culture twist, because I think the "news" part of their name would make that okay sometimes. And given how long it's been since Daria's been on MTV, it really seems like a strange choice of show to use as bait.
But it is MTV. Maybe they can use their brand to justify themselves. I would like to see Time justify "These Are the 25 Most-Highlighted Game of Thrones Quotes", a tech article that talks about the books. Where is the tech twist, you may wonder. Oh, don't worry, it's there. Amazon provided the most-highlighted quotes from their Kindle e-readers. I don't know what weirds me out more -the fact this was an article on Time and not Buzzfeed, or that Amazon knows what you highlight and reports it to the press.
Speaking of Buzzfeed, this vlog would be lacking if I never mentioned them. This week, I decided to go with "19 Genius New Ways to Drink Your Coffee." Let's be honest, there's two ways to drink your coffee - with or without a straw. The article doesn't introduce you to drinking coffee while stnding on your head. What it really should be called is "Some Interesting Coffee Drinks to Try If You Haven't Already," but no one would click on that.
I have time for one more article, so I chose Tech Crunch's "Live Video Is the New Click Bait." I had wanted to give it points for having the least click-baity title, despitr the fact the title itself fails to acknowledge how long live video has been on the Internet. I can name YouTubers who had live shows six years ago. Reading the article did not improve my opinion. It really only says live video is the new click bait. Was it a slow tech news week? I believe this article itself is 84% pure click-bait.
Thank you for joining me this week. Tell me what you think or suggest articles in the comments below, and I'll be back next week to deconstruct more bait.
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