Thirteen ways to avoid pesky click-bait media

By Casey Jones

Almost every college student has a social network account, such as Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr.

However, many users have probably noticed that over the course of the past year or so that many posts have turned from a standard status, tweet, or text post to a seemingly never-ending stream of links to “news” articles that dance around whatever topic was mentioned in the headline.

So, here are my 13 amazing ways to avoid click-bait media! You won’t believe number 6.

One: Avoid any links that start with a number followed by “ways to…” or anything of the sort. This is the key giveaway to basically any “Buzzfeed” style news article.

Two: If the seemingly simple story spans over more than two pages, it’s probably click-bait. They do this to get more ad-revenue per page visit, which brings us to the next exciting tip.

Three: Avoid pages that are heavy on advertisements.

Not all pages with advertisements are click-bait, but if you click somewhere that is obviously not an ad and a pop-up comes up, that’s just ridiculous.

Four: Some of these articles span over multiple pages, but don’t always make it clear how to get to the next one.

This is a sure-fire way to tell if an article is click-bait rather than a significant piece of journalism.

Five: If a article has a lot of spelling or grammar mistakes, or big words used in a photosynthetic manner, then your a victim of amateur journalism in the form of click-bait.

Six: Any links titled in a manner to list a series of opinions or ideas, followed by something like “You won’t believe number 6” is, without a doubt, click-bait.

Seven: A lot of click-bait articles like to repeat themselves, although stated slightly different the second time.

Eight: Many click-bait articles are redundant when moving from one section to the next, often getting the same point across twice.

9: Click-bait articles are, in a lot of cases, inconsistent on their listing or style format.

Ten: Between pages of many click-bait articles, instead of adding to the article, there are pages that are just a singular advertisement.

This transition page forces you to wait a given duration before moving on.

Eleven: Introducing the new Taco Bell Quesalupa, with its mouth-watering deliciousness.

Make sure to stop by your local Taco Bell and try it out, and then quench your thirst with some refreshing Baja Blast. Wait five seconds before reading the next line.

Twelve: A frequent and annoying problem with click-bait is that the final page leads to a different article on the same website that is completely unrelated.

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