Facebook Stands Up To Clickbait, Day 2: The Media Responds
The media industry responded predictably to an announcement from Facebook Thursday that articles using so-called “clickbait” headline tropes will get lower billing in the social giant’s all-important News Feed product, which publishers rely on for sweet, sweet referral traffic. (Sponsored posts will not be affected by Facebook’s efforts to target clickbait, a spokeswoman confirmed.)
There was hand-wringing, there was snarkiness and there were plenty of reports that poked fun by using some of the clickbait tactics being targeted by Facebook. Newsweek, for example, went with “You won’t BELIEVE what Facebook is trying to do!”
But how big of a deal is the announcement? How big of a problem is clickbait, really, in 2016? And how will the new rules change the way publishers operate? Ad Age got answers via email from some of the media companies that have made their names by becoming ubiquitous in many people’s Facebook feeds.
