Do you clickbait?

Looking at this issue as a viewer, i get more annoyed by thumbnail clickbait more than title clickbait.
I find it so dishonest and really breaks my trust.
 
Whether I clickbait or not is in the eye of the beholder. None of my thumbnails are clickbait, as they are all a screenshot (zoomed in and cropped) from the video itself, some with a red border. The only thing that could be considered clickbait is my use of the term "horror version", which might mean different things to many different people. If you've seen 1 or 2 of my videos, then you know exactly what to expect, but if you are seeing one for the first time and are expecting some re-cut video with blood and gore added, you might be disappointed. Using the term "horror version" was chosen intentionally because it sounds more interesting than "cringey version", "uncomfortable version" or "tense version", all of which would be more accurate. Other than the possibility of heightened expectations from the word "horror", the titles are exactly what the video is, to allow for the most informed decision by potential viewers.

As far as being a viewer myself, I only click on videos that I know what I can expect from the thumbnail and title. Anything sounding like it is exaggerating and it's an immediate "nope" for me and I've already scrolled past it almost before I realize it.
 
Every title is bait. It’s used to one reason, to be found and watched. You don’t go fishing with an empty line right?

Though I do feel if your title doesn’t reflect your video, people won’t stay long
 
Gaijillionaire said:
Every title is bait. It’s used to one reason, to be found and watched. You don’t go fishing with an empty line right?

Though I do feel if your title doesn’t reflect your video, people won’t stay long
Click to expand...

Not every title/thumbnail is clickbait.

Some obvious clickbait i've seen recently was a video talking about the effects of cyanide poisoning. The thumbnail was a screenshot from a scene in game of thrones where a character dies from poisoning. I watched the video in its entirety - that scene does not appear, no mention of game of thrones.
Its pandering to the "game of thrones" fans

If something is true then its not clickbait for example i've seen a video something along the lines of "angry ram headbutts/charges vehicle" i think its a whole channel where the premise is a ram headbutting things. The video is completely true to the title. Its attention grabbing but definitely not clickbait
 
I clickbait but I don't lie which I believe is an important difference between true click baiting and mine...

I absolutely hate when the title of some vid is something that happens for like 2 seconds and has nothing to do with the video otherwise... But there's IMO nothing wrong with spicing up the subject of the video as long as it's relevant... Competition is just too much these days
 
From time to time I try to think some interesting titles. Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails. But most important thing is that even when you do clickbait that you surpass the expectation of the viewer. That you deliver more than you promised. For example putting the title like this: "This video will change your life" and then the video is some boring stuff that everybody already knows that will not work - or it will work only for views but with a lot of dislikes and unsubscribes. But if you deliver something really ground shocking in that video, that will give you views, subscribers, shares, and likes.
 
I don't feel there's anything wrong with it ... provided that you follow through on it and provide some content related to the clickbait theme in some way. If you were to say "Here's how to win a million dollars!!!" and then post a video on how to clean your carpets ... then that's stupid.
 
I always make sure there's some element of truth behind the thumbnail and the title. Sometimes for our travel vlogs we have to "sell" the vlog more by playing up one particular aspect, one thing that happened.

Let's say that while you were vlogging at the park a pigeon flies up into your face. You could call the video "BIRD ATTACKS!" because that actually happened in the video, even though that's just one part of the whole video. Or, you could just call the video "A Vlog at the Park", and a lot less people would click on it. "BIRD ATTACKS" just emphasizes a particular point in the video, but it's not clickbait.

But what makes something clickbait is just completely fabricating something that doesn't actually happen in the video. Like, "I SET MY iPHONE ON FIRE!" and then the video is about someone charging their phone and it gets a little warm. Or "KID GETS STUCK IN WATER PARK" and no kid actually gets stuck in the water park.
 
Whatever happened to just titling a video something like "hand thing" and using the default thumbnail and getting lots of views because everyone shared it?
 
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