If you are a video content clear, it’s best to avoid this!
Meta are increasingly seeing the use of ‘watchbait’ in their video ecosystem. Watchbait is essentially the video form of clickbait – watchbait videos have titles or captions that intentionally withhold information, sensationalize content, or mislead viewers in an attempt to lure or bait them into watching the full video. People have expressed negative attitudes towards watchbait.
They prefer to see clearly written, accurate video titles and captions that help them decide how they want to spend their time.
Given users’ preferences and the baity nature of watchbait videos, we use a system that detects watchbait tactics to identify individual videos that qualify as watchbait, as well as the Pages that consistently post watchbait videos, and reduce their distribution on Newsfeed and Facebook’s recommendation surfaces.
Meta encourages publishers to avoid watchbait tactics and instead generate distribution with original, authentic behavior and high quality videos.
Use captions and titles that inform and set accurate expectations
People expect the title and caption of a video to convey relatively accurately what the video is about; this helps them decide if they want to spend time watching it. Withholding is a tactic where a post intentionally omits key information in the video title or description to create an arbitrary curiosity gap that baits users into watching the video to understand the full context. For example, these titles below withhold key information, making it hard for people to know what the video is about:
- His Reaction Was Priceless!! 😂😂
- THIS IS THE WORST WAY TO WAKE UP!! 😂
- And then this happened…
- He paid attention at first but then this happened…
Additionally, people have told us that exaggerated, sensationalized titles or captions result in feelings of disappointment or deception once the video is viewed. Sensationalism is a tactic where a post includes unnecessary exaggeration, extreme language or formatting cues (like all capitalization or excessive emojis) across video title, description, or thumbnail to entice users to watch the video. For example, these titles below sensationalize the video content and risk misleading or letting down viewers:
- Absolutely mind-blowing details in the latest recipe from Kai!
- WOW AMAZING MOVIE – BEST MOVIE 2021 🤯 🤯
- Your bff just sent a crazy message to your girlfriend! 😰😰😰
- Shocking weather phenomenon could explode your plans!!!
Instead of relying on the intentional withholding of key information or sensationalizing the title, post headlines and captions in video description that set appropriate expectations and accurately describe the video someone is about to watch.
Use informative headlines and captions so people get a clear understanding of your video.
Add your own voice to help drive genuine conversation. This helps establish originality and authenticity in your content and enables people to decide how they want to spend their time with your post.
For more information on watchbait, please read Meta’s Watchbait Best Practices article in the Publisher Help Center.
Follow @itp.live, we are always on the look-out to give tips to Influencers and content creators!