60-Seconds : Click Bait, Fake News and you

Fred Showker

click bait and fake news After I got flamed on Facebook for citing marketing and social media trends, went back and dug out the research on click bait and fake news I've been doing for UGNN. Here's the latest update, and industry buzz on the topic :

Fake News and Click Bait and you ...

  • Finding hope in the impossible: Why one reader returns to print
  • Donald Trump ran a clickbait campaign and we all fell for it
  • Why Social Media Sites Must Treat Themselves as News Outlets
  • In the Click-bait Era, what happens to freedom of the press?
  • On squirrels, Donald Trump, and masturbation. In that order
  • The election is over but spammers aren't conceding
  • The danger of fake news and the risk of stopping it
  • Scammers dangle holiday gift cards as click bait
  • Clickbait, fake news and the power of feeling
  • Facebook has ruined political discourse
  • 8 Tips For Determining Fake News Sites
  • Is There A Fake Google?

8 Tips For Determining Fake News Sites

Gail Eddy, Nederland writes :
      Over the last week or so, I’ve been hearing more about “Fake News” websites. I’ve been aware, for a while, of websites that seem more biased, but I hadn’t been aware of websites with actual fake news. An off-shoot of this issue is that these websites sometimes include malware. Several of our customers got a virus in the week leading up to the election from clicking on those types of “news” stories.
      Have you read any of these news stories? Many of them surround the impact fake news has had on Facebook and other Social Media. For example this article from the NY Times, or this one from the Washington Post, or this one from CNN .
ad blockers update TECH TRENDS - Gail Eddy, Nederland -- themtnear.com

Facebook has ruined political discourse

Should Facebook be held accountable for the plethora of fake news outlets spreading unreliable news articles to the public, especially considering the role social media has played in recent years?
      he 2016 Presidential Election exposed in excruciating detail how terrible social media, specifically the ease with which Facebook users can share fake news stories appearing in their newsfeeds, is for having a constructive political discourse in America.
ad blockers update Christopher Pattyn -- neiuindependent.org

The danger of fake news and the risk of stopping it

After the U.S. election and Donald Trump becoming President-elect, fake news and where it’s harbored came into discussion. Fact-checking and general distrust in established news sources rose during a turbulent and most unusual campaign season, creating a perfect storm for fake click-bait news to grab hold of the American populous.
      While it’s difficult to prove, some people believe fake news, and its role in social media has a part to play in this year’s presidential election. Many individuals think Americans had their mind made up before click-bait articles could influence them.
ad blockers update The Northern Light dot Org

Why Social Media Sites Must Treat Themselves as News Outlets

While many lament social media as the source of any and all of society’s ills, few are aware of the mechanisms with which companies like Facebook have to curate content and even make editorial decisions.
      With 62 percent of adults in the United States getting their news from social media, it is time to consider seemingly non-editorial social media networks—particularly Facebook—as legitimate media outlets that have a responsibility to the public to disseminating information that is at least somewhat rooted in fact, if not create better and more nuanced editorial standards than traditional media outlets.
ad blockers update The Wesleyan Argus

Scammers dangle holiday gift cards as click bait

Compact, versatile, available everywhere and easy to give — gift cards will again be at the top of many holiday shoppers' lists this year. So if you run across a way to get free or steeply discounted gift cards, you should go for it, right? Not necessarily.
      The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is asking shoppers to use caution when facing promises of cut-rate or free gift cards.
ad blockers update Superior Telegram

In the Click-bait Era, what happens to freedom of the press?

Throughout the 2016 presidential election, candidates and supporters on each side used the media as a punching bag. President-elect Donald Trump and his supporters accused main stream media professionals of a liberal bias in their coverage. The Hillary Clinton camp complained that Trump received disproportionate coverage, legitimizing what they felt was an absurd candidacy.
      Both sides have valid points, but the issue of media bias is much more complicated when you dig beneath the surface.
ad blockers update Brian Hart The PR Daily

Is There A Fake Google?

"The only problem with the internet is that you can't believe everything you see there." — Abraham Lincoln...
      We all know and trust Google and use it a lot without ever thinking twice about the safety, at least most of us. But now there's some worrying news, there's a fake click bait Google with the domain oogle.com. Notice that the 'G' is smaller than usual because it's really a Unicode character for the Latin small-capital G. You could almost mistake it for the real Google and end up clicking it and risk your computer's security.
ad blockers update HiFi Public

Finding hope in the impossible: Why one reader returns to print

You can take shallow web news, "fake news," click bait, intrusive advertising and shove it into the trash folder, as far as this citizen is concerned. I'm going back to print - with eyes wide open for bias -in search of in-depth national and international news, from current events to politics to business. Yes, print's forecast is bleak. But, as the new Spock said in the latest Star Trek film: "We will find hope in the impossible."
      Yes, print's forecast is bleak. But, as the new Spock said in the latest Star Trek film: "We will find hope in the impossible."
ad blockers update RICK SMITH, WRAL TechWire Editor

Clickbait, fake news and the power of feeling

Jonah Berger is a Wharton professor and the bestselling author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On, a book that attempts to unearth the science behind "going viral." What makes an advertisement, a YouTube video or a tweet catch on?
      According to Berger, virality comes down STEPPS, a backronym of six ideals. There's Social currency (we share things that make us look good to those around us), Triggers (the nugget of a product or idea), Emotion (a message with an emotional component is more likely to be shared), Public (the more public something is, the more likely people will imitate it), Practical value (useful things get shared), and Stories (if you want to spread an idea, embed it within a narrative). A good piece of marketing will hit as many of the STEPPS as possible.
ad blockers update www.engadget.com

Donald Trump ran a clickbait campaign to the White House and we fell for it

On paper, this defies logic. A man with zero prior experience in our government and military was just elected to lead them both.
      Regardless of whether you were outraged or empowered by Trump’s bold statements, you all heard and paid attention to them. His strategy was so simple yet brilliant. He paid next to nothing for advertising because everyone was already talking about him.
[Ed: interesting, this is a newspaper in Pakistan!]
ad blockers update blogs.tribune.com.pk

The election is over but spammers aren't conceding

The subject lines were enticing: "Trump – I uncovered a secret" or "Has Trump gone too far? The shocking statement you won't see on the news."
      Political emails with click-bait subject lines overloaded inboxes during the contentious presidential campaign – and many were too irresistible not to open. But all too often, messages were full of fake news and contained ploys designed to infect recipients' computers with harmful software or steal personal and financial information. And while the campaigns have ended, the spammers haven't quit.
ad blockers update The Christian Science Monitor

On squirrels, Donald Trump, and masturbation. In that order.

. . . the key to successful journalism these days lies in the art of catchy titles. You see, readers are merely fish waiting to be hooked by the shocking, you-won’t-believe-what-happens next,doctors-hate-this-one-simple-trick headliners that troll up and down your newsfeed. Bobbing silently, these catchy titles seem harmless until some unfortunate soul bites and is linked off to some ad packed, slow-loading site with its content in slideshow format.
      And by the time you get there you don’t even care anymore about what that child celebrity looks like all grown up, even if number seven was supposed to surprise you. Click bait works. Hook, line and sinker.
ad blockers update Goshen College campus newspaper

... and thanks for reading

Fred Showker

      Editor/Publisher : DTG Magazine
      +FredShowker on Google+ or most social medias @Showker
      Published online since 1988

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