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Recently, I've been thinking-the time I spend online is perhaps only 50% productive. The remaining hours I'm either on Facebook, watching videos of cute animals on YouTube or doing a Buzzfeed quiz to try and figure out what food best matches my personality . It's sushi, by the way.

As a result, I've come to realize just how monotonous my life has become. When I was younger I used to read all the time, or go outside! Now my weekends roll around and I have to force myself spend half an hour reading about how an Instagrammer Matches Makeup To Snacks (which is actually pretty cool, I encourage you to read it).

My conclusion is that the many clickbait articles that exist now function as a drug . You can't just reading them, or you might die. Rather than attempt to avoid the power of clickbait articles, however, I decided it might be best to understand them. That way, the next time I find myself trying to figure out what kind of grilled cheese I am, at least I can figure out exactly what elements about the quiz or article I find compelling, and use it against other people!

Do you want to boost shares on your content? Download the study to learn how to create titles that nobody can resist!

So how exactly does one understand a clickbait title? What do you use to measure its clickbaitiness**? Well there are some tools that exist which aim to tell you just how clickbait a title is, but I found that they can be somewhat inaccurate and a bit too simple.

I started my research by using CoSchedule's headline analyzer to assess the top performing articles from the past three months that were featured on 24 high-traffic sites known for producing particularly clickbait titles, such as Buzzfeed, Upworthy and Cracked.

Here is a list of those titles:

Some of these sites had as high as a million shares for a specific article in under 3 months! Surely the title should score 100% on the title analyzer, right?

Well, no. In fact it only scored a 23...

Clearly this title analyzer did not accurately reflect what kinds of titles result in social shares. The means of measuring how shareable a title can be is just too subjective, and has a lot to do with current affairs or what is being covered in the news.

In fact, the correlation between number of shares per article and the CoSchedule ranking was very random:

I used to collect the data for analyzing the various titles and to see the number of shares the most popular article from each site received. My goal in doing so was to discover exactly what it would take to boost blog traffic with a single headline .

To analyze the titles of these articles, these are the questions I asked myself:

1) Was the title a list?

As might be assumed, a list-based article is something along the lines of 18 Photos That Won't Make Sense To Sisterless Families , which is a common style for Buzzfeed articles and considered one of the most popular types of content on the internet.

2) Was there a mention of "You" or "I" or a personal story aspect to the title?

In his book Contagious, Jonah Berger expresses the importance of using stories to engage people with your content. Why do you think case studies are so popular? Because if something can affect another person, it means there's a chance it can affect you too! Titles that mention or hint at a personal story get clicks.

3) Was there an animal mention?

I don't know about you, but anytime I see or hear mention of a story about a dog or a cute panda sneezing or a hippo farting, I get excited and immediately need to read or see more. Chances are if the title mentions an animal, there will likely be a picture in the post. Cute animals get people excited. Look:

4) Did the topic receive recent media attention, or was it a news piece?

As you probably could have guessed, trending topics in the media gain a lot of attention, so if your title mentions a recent event, you will likely see it receiving a lot of attention. This exact thing happened with a few of our blog posts at Venngage. When Star Wars: The Force Awakens was coming out, we did an infographic about the movie. When there was a lot of media coverage about the Syrian refugee crisis , we created some data visualizations to comment on the subject. Both were very popular!

5) Was there a pop-culture or food culture reference?

Have you ever watched any of Buzzfeed's videos? They're addictive, right? Sometimes I watch my roommate spend hours on Tumblr just looking at pictures of food. This was her Facebook cover photo for over a month.

Food is simply irresistible and so is pop-culture. As of late I can't seem to get enough of 90s throwback references! The fact that Netflix decided to remake the show as Fuller House should come as no surprise. Anything older than 10 or 15 years suddenly becomes iconic and novel, and thus evokes from people a strong desire to click.

6) Was there an unknown or new concept mentioned in the title?

Introducing a new idea or suggesting an element of mystery makes it very difficult to resist clicking on a title. Here's an example: between the following two titles, which are you more likely to click?
question poll Infographic
You probably chose the second. Why? Because who want to know why the duck crossed the pond? The answer is unrevealed and as a result, you can't help but wonder what it is.

7) Was there an element of shock or excitement?

Shocking and exciting your reader is another powerful method to convince them to click. Let's go back to the example with the duck crossing the pond. The first title example might actually work in this case if we rephrased the end result. So instead of the title being This duck just swam across this pond to get to the other side , it might be more shocking if the title was This duck just swam across this pond to save a man from a burning building!

It's shocking because it's highly unlikely that a duck would be able to save a human from a burning building. If your title contains an element of shock to this extent, you will peak the reader's curiosity.

Also here's a video of another cute dog:

The results of my labor...

So after many grueling hours of calculating the data (it only took this long because I suck at math), here is what I learned:

 <a href="https://venngage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/94014235-d7c8-4715-a90d-a47e7eabfe59.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5127" src="https://venngage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/94014235-d7c8-4715-a90d-a47e7eabfe59.png" alt="chart maker" width="1000" height="1000" /></a></strong></strong>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Made with </span></i><a href="https://venngage.com/beam"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">chart maker</span></i></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Beam</span></i>

Of the top performing clickbait articles:

<a href="https://venngage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/6694e910-78ef-46e1-87ec-d378626cbdd7.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5128" src="https://venngage.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/6694e910-78ef-46e1-87ec-d378626cbdd7.png" alt="chart maker" width="1000" height="1000" /></a> <i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Made with </span></i><a href="https://venngage.com/beam"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">chart maker</span></i></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Beam</span></i>

Of the articles analyzed, this is how many contained more than one of the clickbait factors listed above:

None of the articles assessed contained 5 or more of the factors. Of all the titles, the majority with more than 200,000 shares contained exactly 3 of the 7 factors. Shock value was the highest performing factor.

Do you ever find that after you study a subject in school for very long time you can't help but analyze everything about it for the rest of your life? I'll give you an example-I did my undergraduate degree in theatre and now every time I go to see a show I can't help but speculate on the production choices, the blocking choices, the design choices and the transitions.

The reason this happens is because once someone brings a fact to your attention, it's almost impossible to unsee or unhear it. Like if someone points out to you that your girlfriend has a lazy eye, you may have never noticed it before, but once it's pointed out to you, that's all you see. What I'm getting at is by reading this recipe about the factors that make for a perfect clickbait title, you will become better at spotting them on a more frequent basis. As a result, when it comes down to forming attractive headlines for your own content, you will face zero struggles.

As a conclusion, I leave you with a challenge. Everytime you come across a new article, whether it's one on your own blog or one that someone shares with you, analyze it and track whether it contains any of the factors listed above. As you continue to produce new content, aim to reach that target of hitting three of the seven factors. Hopefully you'll notice a massive jump in social shares and become a millionaire overnight (well, the first part, at least)!
**Clickbaitiness: Defines to what degree an article is considered clickbait on a scale of 1 to 10. This does not include articles which are not deemed clickbait at all. Lastly, this is a word I made up, but feel free to reference it.
If not, keep hustling.

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Recently, I've been thinking-the time I spend online is perhaps only 50% productive. The remaining hours I'm either on Facebook, watching videos of cute animals on YouTube or doing a Buzzfeed quiz to try and figure out what food best matches my personality . It's sushi, by the way.

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Daily Video

Essential question

How can you be sure that the news you consume is true?

The proliferation of fake news sources on social media has raised questions about the duty of sites like Facebook and Twitter to screen content and distinguish fact from fiction.

Throughout 2016, false stories about the election were widely circulated by a variety of websites purporting to be legitimate. An analysis by Buzzfeed News revealed that many of these stories actually received more engagement - measured by the total number of comments, reactions and shares an article receives online - than those from real news sites like The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Buzzfeed reporter Craig Silverman and his colleagues compared the top 20 fake news articles from the three months leading up to the election to the top 20 from actual news sites and found that engagement was much higher for the fake sources than the real ones.

"To see that the leading fake news site getting the most engagement had only been registered months before, and its top four fake stories got more Facebook engagement than the top four election stories from The Washington Post, I mean, that was really surprising," Sullivan said.

In addition, the Buzzfeed team found more than 100 fake news sites focused on the U.S. election were being run out of a small town in the Balkan nation of Macedonia and that virtually all were publishing articles favorable for President-elect Donald Trump's campaign.

The extent to which false news impacted the presidential election is unclear. Some people say sites like Facebook and Twitter need to do more to identify untrustworthy sources. President Barack Obama raised concern over the role of fake news while in Germany Thursday.

"If we are not serious about facts and what's true and what's not ... if we can't discriminate between serious arguments and propaganda, then we have problems," the President said.

propaganda - ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, or a government

algorithm - a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or making a decision, especially by a computer

echo chamber - any forum for communication in which all members agree with everyone else

Warm up questions (before watching the video)

1. Where do you get your news?

2. If you say social media, can you name the specific news sources where the majority of information you read comes from?

3. Why is there growing concern surrounding fake news sites?

Cr itical thinking questions (after watching the video)

1. Do you agree with President Obama's statement that it is problematic if people can't distinguish between real news and propaganda? Explain.

2. How do you think fake news could influence individuals' beliefs or even presidential elections?

3. Do you think tech giants like Google and Facebook deserve to be criticized over whether they used insufficient discretion in weeding out fake news?

4. What should these companies do about fake news sites?

Extension activity:

Take a closer look with your students at the idea of the 'echo chamber effect' using this PBS video and lesson plan, " Decoding Media Bias."

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Did fake news influence the outcome of Election 2016? | PBS NewsHour Extra

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Essential question How can you be sure that the news you consume is true? The proliferation of fake news sources on social media has raised questions about the duty of sites like Facebook and Twitter to screen content and distinguish fact from fiction.

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Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you’re into with the people who get you.

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Secret Hack To Get Headphone Jack on the iPhone 7

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This video is for those who don't want to get $159 wireless airpods or have to insert your headphones into an adapter every time you listen to music. FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/techrax TWITTER: https://twitter.com/techrax INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/techrax Song: Ephixa & Jim Yosef - Everlasting [NCS Release]

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Clickbait: A Guide To Writing Un-Ignorable Headlines

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We looked at some of the top performing content on social media, from some of the top publications on the web. From this, we were able to figure out the recipe...

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Google search results page - Google Search Help

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Use this page to learn about the different parts of a Google Search results page, including what the icons and buttons mean. Click on one of the links below to learn about that part of the results pag

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I have to admit something: I don't understand why the "Cash Me Outside" girl is so funny.

I even watched the entire "Dr. Phil" episode, and I'm still at a loss as to why people cared about this girl in the first place.

Have you ever tried to crack the code for why something goes viral?

In an age when we're overrun by digital media, how do our brains pick out those few lucky gems that make it to the interwebs hall of fame?

Well, scientists figured out these viral stories actually aren't so "lucky" after all.

In a University of Pennsylvania study, researchers had 80 participants read the headlines and abstracts of 80 health articles from the New York Times, and then they were told to rate whether or not they would read and share each article.

Researches scanned the brain activity of the participants while they went through the articles, and with this information, they were able to determine what makes something "shareable" as well as the likelihood of an article going viral.

The study focused on analyzing two areas of the brains: the region associated with self-related thinking and the region associated with mentalizing (imagining what others might think).

While rating the shareability of each article, it was discovered that the participants thought both about themselves as well as others.

One lead researcher Elisa Baek told Science Daily,

When you're thinking about what to read yourself and about what to share, both are inherently social, and when you're thinking socially, you're often thinking about yourself and your relationships to others. Your self-concept and understanding of the social world are intertwined.

Essentially, an article's shareability is determined by how much it says about the reader and/or how it could help the reader's friends, whether that's through making them laugh or assisting them in solving a problem.

Second lead researcher Christin Scholz explained,

In practice, if you craft a message in a way that makes the reader understand how it's going to make them look positive, or how it could enhance a relationship, then we predict it would increase the likelihood of sharing that message.

Continuing with the "Cash Me Outside" example, most of us shared that video of Danielle Bregoli in order to either make ourselves "look good" or to make our friends laugh.

So, if you want something to go viral, your creation just needs to be a solid combination of self-reflection and social connection.

Then, your chances of becoming internet famous will soar.

Reach for the stars, kids.

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This Is What Makes Something 'Go Viral,' According To Science

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I have to admit something: I don't understand why the "Cash Me Outside" girl is so funny. I even watched the entire "Dr. Phil" episode, and I'm still at a loss as to why people cared about this girl in the first place. Have you ever tried to crack t...

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1. This Recipe Saves Lives: People Claim They Cured Their Cancer With It

2. More people have died from selfies than shark attacks this year

3. Every Woman Needs to Know These 10 Life-Changing Aspirin Tricks!

4. Report: Video Games Will Never Be Art

5. The entire internet is being stored in Canada to keep it from Trump

6. Twelve in Custody After FBI Takes Down ‘Major’ Counterfeit News Operation in NYC

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I just spent the weekend with a group of teens for a writing/blogging workshop, and I noticed something quite interesting and revealing...

Gen Z is totally onto clickbait headlines and fear-based marketing.

I've been seeing a lot of it on Medium. The discussion seems to be heating up. It's a puddle of mud that I don't care/have the time to jump into right now, but I'll just state what I saw...

This was no internet marketing seminar where the word 'clickbait' was even a topic. I was with a group of about 10 high school kids. Varied backgrounds. Various schools around the area. A pretty diverse crowd. And clickbait seemed to be a regular topic of discussion among them. They knew the term and it was utterly clear that they despise it. They totally ignore the stuff. They see it as a deceptive, commercialized, cheap move. One girl even wrote about it in a poem of hers!

There may be a large demographic out there right now who clickbait seems to work 'well' with. But there will come a day when the mass majority of the market will take you as a fool if you lean too heavily on these scare tactics.

I love this. I was so happy to see that these kids were so damn savvy, so true to themselves, and so unwilling to buy in to the fear-based marketing of the past. These kids have bullshit detectors as finely-tuned as any I've seen. I was blown away by how well they can sniff out any trace of phoniness or inauthenticity (yes, Hillary and Donald came up a lot).

I pried a bit. I asked what kinds of emails and articles they tended to click on. What they said was, just be real. Just show the reader what they're about to read. Sure, evoke a little curiosity. Be interesting. But they're so over the clickbait.

I could probably have an audience that's three times bigger if I used more clickbait. But I'd rather have a smaller audience full of people who enjoy what I write because it consistently serves them and it connects with them on a deep level rather than a huge audience of fear-based, knee-jerk, lookie-loos.

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They're totally onto your clickbait - Cricket Hill - Medium

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I just spent the weekend with a group of teens for a writing/blogging workshop, and I noticed something quite interesting and revealing... Gen Z is totally onto clickbait headlines and fear-based marketing. I've been seeing a lot of it on Medium. The discussion seems to be heating up.

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Sally Kohn: Don't like clickbait? Don't click

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Doesn't it seem like a lot of online news sites have moved beyond reporting the news to openly inciting your outrage (and your page views)? News analyst Sally Kohn suggests - don't engage with news that looks like it just wants to make you mad.

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Image: Morten Falch Sortland, Getty Images

A 66-year-old Japanese tourist has died, and his travel companion has been injured, after falling down stairs while attempting to take a selfie at the Taj Mahal.

The man's death raises the selfie-related death toll this year - to 12. To put that in perspective, in 2015 there have so far been eight deaths caused by shark attacks.

Image: Donte Neal, Mashable

It sounds like a joke, but unfortunately it isn't: The deaths are a tragic reminder to travelers that focusing on a phone screen instead of unfamiliar surroundings is not safe.

Four of the selfie deaths this year, like the tourist, identified as Hideto Ueda, were caused by falling.

The next leading cause of deaths involving selfies was being hit or injured by trains, either because the individual was taking trying to get a photo with a train or because the photo they wanted involved getting on dangerous equipment.

It's not clear if the number of daredevil selfies is increasing, but more and more tourists are making headlines because of their dangerous attempts at a memorable photo. Parks have closed because visitors keep trying to take selfies with bears, bull runs - an already dangerous activity - have had to expressly outlaw selfie-taking, and even Tour de France cyclists are concerned about selfie danger.

With no idea how far some people will go for a great selfie, many landmarks have begun banning selfies - or at least selfie sticks. As Conde Nast Traveler pointed out in their article on selfies vs. sharks, in July the Russian Interior Ministry released a brochure, warning about cool selfies that "could cost you your life." Selfie-takers are urged to take precaution with weapons, ledges, dangerous animals, trains and live wires.

"Before taking a selfie, everyone should think about the fact that racing after a high number of 'likes' could lead him on a journey to death and his last extreme photo could turn out to be posthumous," an aide to Russia's interior minister told Al Jazeera.

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More people have died from selfies than shark attacks this year

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A 66-year-old Japanese tourist has died, and his travel companion has been injured, after falling down stairs while attempting to take a selfie at the Taj Mahal. The man's death raises the selfie-related death toll this year - to 12. To put that in perspective, in 2015 there have so far been eight deaths caused by shark attacks.

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The Invention of the Internet - Inventions - HISTORY.com

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Find out more about the history of The Invention of the Internet, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

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Lumen5 Video Maker | Create Videos Online in Minutes

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Social video marketing made easy. A video maker that turns text into video marketing content in minutes.

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Lumen5 is a video creation platform designed for brands and businesses to produce social video content for driving audience engagements online. The platform is powered by artificial intelligence and enables anyone without training or experience to easily create engaging video content within minutes.