I'll explain later why I chose this title this time, but first, let's talk about the topic...

Since the start of the Corona pandemic, I haven't had a single COVID test, nor have I had to. Last Saturday, however, the time had come, as I was called up for a small photoshoot for a small theater production. That meant off to my first COVID test...

After my "cerebellar cortex attachment" was massaged with the stick and everything proceeded as expected, I was informed after 15 minutes - NEGATIVE...

I also think that if celebrations are allowed again, this will probably be a prerequisite for controlling the spread of infection, and to avoid going into it completely unprepared, this was a successful dress rehearsal...

So, off we went with the shooting, and that was it, on the very sensationally advertised topic, "but what comes next is hard to believe"...

Perhaps you can already see what I'm getting at from the headline, but many people aren't aware of it or simply wonder, like me, what this exaggerated, sensationalist rubbish is all about, which provides no added value or meaningful information.

Clickbait or why we have to exaggerate everything...

Clickbaiting (I highly recommend the Wikipedia article on the topic) is a kind of bait used to give trivial things more attention than they actually deserve. In times of Corona, when we're spending so much time online anyway, I've noticed this type of headline on blog posts and even reports from otherwise reputable media outlets more frequently. These headlines contain outrageous exaggerations and "wow, this is crazy, you won't believe it" lines to generate more shares on social media and thus more reader attention.

The fact that the usable informational content of the news item is practically zero is intentional; even the most trivial news becomes a headline, as if the Hindenburg were about to burn down again. Personally, these clickbait headlines are really getting on my nerves – "You won't believe this!" Because if a topic interests me, I want "the bombshell news" or information, not just a "maybe" or a "let's see what happens" excuse. Furthermore, these clickbait headlines often lead to the reuse of information. This means that a piece of news, for example from science, might already be publicized through reputable channels, but about two or three weeks later, the topic is picked up again, given a clickbait headline, and the story starts circulating all over again. So, for instance, a bikini photo on Instagram might become a "hot, erotic nude photo" in a report about a Dubai influencer frying pan...

To generate attention, especially among younger readers, you sometimes have to resort to the "totally awesome" rhetoric, but unfortunately, that also leads to everything being exaggerated. A controlled emergency landing becomes a global horror scenario, and so on and so forth... I could go on about dozens of similar things, but it's pointless.

But what does that do to us as a society...?

Because of this clickbait, and because we're used to it from our newsfeeds and therefore perceive it as normal, this behavior is also creeping into our everyday lives. Here, even something as simple as a shopping bag becomes a drama, triggering a recall of paper bags, including a shitstorm against the retailer who put these bags into circulation. Or, at McDonald's (not an ad), an employee forgets the pickle slice on the hamburger. When Holger B. from H. notices it, the unimaginable happens...

Especially during a pandemic, such sensationalist headlines are counterproductive, as they sometimes add fuel to an already heated situation, namely the information and discussion landscape. I long for the return of the old credo of "facts, facts, facts" in the media, so that readers can finally quench their thirst for information without having to wade through headlines that make every wannabe celebrity seem bigger than they actually are.

To test for myself whether these clickbait headlines really have an effect, whether and how much my blog post is clicked or shared, I'm starting this experiment and will use such clickbait headlines for an as yet undefined period in order to evaluate at the end whether it really makes sense or whether it's just another idea from various marketing "heroes" to make themselves seem more important than they are.

"The experiment begins, and the result will leave you speechless"... With that in mind, stay alert and let's not get carried away; not every flyspeck is an archaeological find... 😉