Facebook is contemplating bringing into effect a new policy meaning that websites using irritating “click-bait” headlines will be penalized in favor of stories from friends and pages that users have displayed an active interest in.
“Over time, stories with ‘click-bait’ headlines can drown out content from friends and pages that people really care about,” Facebook research scientist Khalid El-Arini and product specialist Joyce Tang wrote in a blogpost published Monday.
Click-bait headlines are widely regarded as those with curiosity-inducing wording but very little substance, like “You’ll NEVER believe…” or “What happened to… Click to find out” – or just like in the tweet below, though the story inside may be legitimate news:
Click-bait sin is to be determined by how long users spend reading an article after clicking on it – if they immediately return to Facebook, it suggests that the user found nothing of interest.
