The trend of “amazing” headlines on everything you see on Facebook and other social media sites is… well, amazing.

You see the shock titles every day:

  • 10 Things You Didn’t Know About _________ (#7 will blow you away!!!)
  • 13 Cool Things You Missed in _________
  • Horrifying Facts about __________

These combined with the ubiquitous quizzes, tests and surveys:

  • Where Should You Live in the World?
  • Who Were You in a Past Life?
  • When Will You Die?
  • What _______ Character are You?

make up about 40% of the content.

They are all just mindless distraction.  Sure, we all fall victim to them and feel proud to share when we take a quiz and it says we are Captain Kirk, should live in Texas or definitely know our 80’s movies.

Why does this make up such a large percentage of the content on social media?  Because it gets clicks – plain and simple.  Clicks equals money.

These posts are the equivalent of the National Enquirer or other checkout aisle rags…  but oh so much classier than buying one of those.  🙂  – we read them on our iPads and smart phones.

In his book, Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator,  author Ryan Holiday really breaks down this phenomenon.

What is my point?  Simple information.  These headlines drive you to the articles (like my headline likely did) and sure, we all know what to expect when we get there, but it sure does waste a lot of our productive time.

Oh, and there was nothing behind me the entire time - other than that graphic I added.

Oh, and there was nothing behind me the entire time – other than that graphic I added.

Does that mean I will stop taking silly quizzes?  Not likely.  I have already stopped clicking on hyperbolic shocker headlines, but I really need to know which Walking Dead character I am.  🙂  (Rick)

Chris Doelle