The cure for clickbait

[Music]

[Applause]

a few months ago i couldn’t get to sleep

i was in my bed tossing and turning

and so finally i just reached for my

phone and i started scrolling through

facebook which

never helps

30 minutes later i am deep into a scroll

hole more awake than i was before

and i’m scrolling i’m scrolling i’m

scrolling

barely aware of what i’m viewing

and then

the headline of an article just grabbed

my attention

and i knew it was clickbait

so i resisted

i got out of bed i walked away

i did a load of laundry i i did the

dishes i never do the dishes

i even did a little yoga

but the headline was calling out to me

it beckoned me

it created such a curiosity

that i had to give in

i had to know

did man in montana

finally get proof of

bigfoot he did not

sadly this wasn’t the first time i fell

prey to click bait

here’s another one five proven

strategies

to stop fighting with your partner about

money

strategy number one

be single

but it doesn’t stop here unfortunately

we’ve all seen the clickbait headlines

about politics

natural disasters

our health

and the list goes on

and on

when we click debate inevitably we’re

disappointed

the content is poorly written or

negative

or completely false

or it makes you click again

and again to continue to read on

just so they can cram as many ads in as

possible the sad truth is that click

bait works

we know what spreads fastest negativity

over positivity

spin over science

shallowness over substance

lies over truth

in fact a study out of mit found that

falsehoods spread six times faster

than the truth

and this is exploited over

and over again

for example how many of you know that

napoleon was short

well it turns out he was actually a

little above average height for men of

his time

this is a fact

which is why it took me so long to find

it on the internet the negative effects

of this click-bait world we live in

are widespread

it supports the division and

polarization

of the most important issues of our time

and yet

we don’t seem to learn from these

lessons

we’ve allowed these techniques to infect

the way we communicate even on our own

personal social media pages i believe

this is because

we approach the way we post online by

asking the wrong questions

too often we’re only asking the

following two questions before we post

one

what is going to get the most views

likes or comments

two

how can i emulate what others are doing

to get the most views likes and comments

the ultimate paradox in this digital age

is this

we are virtually connected

yet distinctly

isolated

now i’m not about to suggest that we all

get rid of our phones computers and

social media pages for good

or at least if you do

finish watching this talk first what i

do want to point out though is that

we’re all searching

for the same thing to have an authentic

experience

with another human being

so how can we communicate or produce

content in a way

that maximizes real human connection

which in turn leads to trust and further

engagement

from those we care about

i created a few questions that i ask

myself before i post that have been

helpful to keep me in check

and i hope they’re helpful for you too

one

is what i’m about to post

true

novel i know

or if i’m not posting information or

data or something like that i ask is

this authentic to me

two

will it help others

and this doesn’t have to be too deep

important information is always great to

share but if i’m reposting a funny meme

for example

that might actually give somebody some

joy so

that counts

three

is it communicating

what i’m for

rather than what i’m against

for example

instead of posting i hate mondays

i might say

i love me some taco tuesdays if the

answer isn’t yes to all three of these

then i move on to the next idea

in this

hyper-connected world

i want to create connections

of substance

focused on how to authentically

share something how to advocate

positively for the things that matter

and how to turn down the noise on the

things that don’t

i want to create a world where not every

piece of communication

is filtered

through a lens

of how to gain something

but rather

how we give something

stop looking for the hook

the shtick

the secret the psychological mastery

bigfoot

the five proven strategies

they don’t actually deliver

on what matters

tell the truth

give something

share what you love and instead of click

bait

let’s create connection

[Music]