Clickbaiting or Not: Headlines for Paywalls and Login Walls
As the media industry adopts subscriptions and paywalls, the effectiveness of headlines withholding information will wane off. But what about the up and coming promise of login walls?
THE LAND OF CLICK AND MONEY. Publishers, editors and journalists have spent years, if not decades, perfecting the kind of headlines that work for that particular story on that particular publication or website.
- Which changes to the headline will increase the number of clicks and pageviews?
- Which words should be used and what information should be withheld and teased for.
This (and the list goes on) has become a distinct craft; creating digital headlines that work.
Here in Denmark, the clickbait discussion has kept coming back with people either attacking or defending the act of withholding information in headlines - but with a pretty solid argument for the defenders: It works.
The rise of subscriptions and paywalled content will, however, affect that dynamic and force publishers to focus even more on the users.