Public Service Announcement - Don't Click on Clickbait About UConn WBB

[oldude]

During the postgame presser following the loss to TN, Geno made the obvious comment that his top players (Paige & Azzi) needed to play better in Big Games. Subsequently, several online sports media sites published absurd stories claiming that, “Geno throws Paige under the bus!” Such stories represent a growing phenomenon in “so-called” sports journalism of printing articles with provocative titles that are badly written and thinly sourced, otherwise known as CLICKBAIT.

Over the past 10-20 years these online media sites have proliferated extensively for a number of reasons. There are dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of such sites that focus on sports such as:

• Sportskeeda
• Essentially Sports
• MSN
• Sports Illustrated
• Marca.com
• Athlon Sports

So what is going on that has led to this growing proliferation of online nonsense that passes for sports journalism? Here are a few trends that have fueled the growth of online BS:

• The decline of print media, including both newspapers and periodicals. Print media has been in a “death spiral” for decades. Subscriptions have declined, leading to a decline in advertising dollars, which has led to many traditional print media sources going out of business or migrating to online publication.
• The rise in internet advertising. With the decline in print media, advertisers were looking for other outlets to get their message to customers. Hence the rise in social media such as Google, X, Meta and yes even the Boneyard. Advertisers pay social media sites based on how many clicks their ad or article gets, and how long an individual looks at that ad or article.
• Targeting customers through online profiles. The amount of information that internet marketers have on all of us is scary. They know our age, political leanings, likes, dislikes and THEY KNOW WHERE WE LIVE! So they can initiate what is known as “micro-targeting” which entails messages specifically targeted to smaller demographic groups, as opposed to “mass marketing” which is far more costly and less effective.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI). Over the past few years, micro-targeting has been supercharged through AI, which allows advertisers and online media purveyors to observe what you are reading and then funnel related information to you through your search engine. For many of us here on the Boneyard who love UConn WBB, we receive a lot of articles that cover UConn, Geno and Paige Bueckers in particular, including online BS.

That leads us to the question of, “What do we do about this BS?” It would be great if there was the equivalent of a “Do not call list” for the internet. While you can limit ads appearing in your search engine, it’s impossible to eliminate news feeds at present. So that leaves us with only one real choice. DON’T CLICK ON CLICKBAIT ABOUT UCONN WBB!!! Maybe if enough of us stop clicking on this nonsense, these clickbait sites will suffer their own drop in advertising revenue and perhaps be forced out of business. While that may seem unlikely, we can always hope.

 

[and one]

Take it a step further and ignore all clickbait. If the headline is Chiefs Replacing Mahomes, don't click. If it's Scientists Baffled by New Discovery, don't click. If it's 10 Habits All Successful People Have, don't click. Junk calls killed the landline (or what was left of it post cell phones). Don't let clickbait do the same to the internet.

 

[PacoSwede]

Take it a step further and ignore all clickbait. If the headline is Chiefs Replacing Mahomes, don't click. If it's Scientists Baffled by New Discovery, don't click. If it's 10 Habits All Successful People Have, don't click. Junk calls killed the landline (or what was left of it post cell phones). Don't let clickbait do the same to the internet.

it comes down to ethics/morality vs. MONEY ... we know what americans value more (sadly)

 

[MooseJaw]

During the postgame presser following the loss to TN, Geno made the obvious comment that his top players (Paige & Azzi) needed to play better in Big Games. Subsequently, several online sports media sites published absurd stories claiming that, “Geno throws Paige under the bus!” Such stories represent a growing phenomenon in “so-called” sports journalism of printing articles with provocative titles that are badly written and thinly sourced, otherwise known as CLICKBAIT.

Over the past 10-20 years these online media sites have proliferated extensively for a number of reasons. There are dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of such sites that focus on sports such as:

• Sportskeeda
• Essentially Sports
• MSN
• Sports Illustrated
• Marca.com
• Athlon Sports

So what is going on that has led to this growing proliferation of online nonsense that passes for sports journalism? Here are a few trends that have fueled the growth of online BS:

• The decline of print media, including both newspapers and periodicals. Print media has been in a “death spiral” for decades. Subscriptions have declined, leading to a decline in advertising dollars, which has led to many traditional print media sources going out of business or migrating to online publication.
• The rise in internet advertising. With the decline in print media, advertisers were looking for other outlets to get their message to customers. Hence the rise in social media such as Google, X, Meta and yes even the Boneyard. Advertisers pay social media sites based on how many clicks their ad or article gets, and how long an individual looks at that ad or article.
• Targeting customers through online profiles. The amount of information that internet marketers have on all of us is scary. They know our age, political leanings, likes, dislikes and THEY KNOW WHERE WE LIVE! So they can initiate what is known as “micro-targeting” which entails messages specifically targeted to smaller demographic groups, as opposed to “mass marketing” which is far more costly and less effective.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI). Over the past few years, micro-targeting has been supercharged through AI, which allows advertisers and online media purveyors to observe what you are reading and then funnel related information to you through your search engine. For many of us here on the Boneyard who love UConn WBB, we receive a lot of articles that cover UConn, Geno and Paige Bueckers in particular, including online BS.

That leads us to the question of, “What do we do about this BS?” It would be great if there was the equivalent of a “Do not call list” for the internet. While you can limit ads appearing in your search engine, it’s impossible to eliminate news feeds at present. So that leaves us with only one real choice. DON’T CLICK ON CLICKBAIT ABOUT UCONN WBB!!! Maybe if enough of us stop clicking on this nonsense, these clickbait sites will suffer their own drop in advertising revenue and perhaps be forced out of business. While that may seem unlikely, we can always hope.

How much click bait exists here on the BY? There is click bait everywhere, and we know that Husky fans are hungry for any tid-bit on our team. Yes, we can avoid the sites you listed, but few want to miss anything that affirms their love of UConn's WCBB team.
Just look at the BY, where there are posters who almost write books on individual games, ideas, or any item of interest to them. It is amazing what we pontificate on. bad? heck no. The BY posters have to write, get their thoughts out revel in our Huskies. I get it, I also understand why many can't resist reading anything and everything about our Huskies. Get a bad article, stop looking, heck no it's on to the next bit of info we can find. Lets face it we are hungry, out of control and definitely addicted to everything UConn WBB. An intervention, heck no, just shot me another article to feed my Husky hunger.

 

[oldude]

A couple years ago I learned firsthand just how insidious the micro-targeting aspect of this online BS can be, even here on the Boneyard. I live in the small town of Moreau, NY. We had an off-year election for the Town Board with no state or federal candidates in the ballot. The race for Town Supervisor got a little contentious.

One day, several weeks before the election, I opened up the Boneyard to see what was going on with my beloved Huskies. I was shocked to see a political attack ad directed at one of the candidates for Moreau Town Supervisor.

Obviously, some political marketing group identified my profile by zip code as living in the town of Moreau. I will venture to guess that you could count the number of BY posters in the Town of Moreau, NY on 1 hand, if not 1 finger. It was extremely unsettling that I could be targeted for such a message.

The good news is that the incumbent candidate who was responsible for initiating the attack ads lost his reelection bid in a landslide as local residents who received similar attack ads on whatever social media sites they frequented were appalled by the effort.

 

[oldude]

How much click bait exists here on the BY? There is click bait everywhere, and we know that Husky fans are hungry for any tid-bit on our team. Yes, we can avoid the sites you listed, but few want to miss anything that affirms their love of UConn's WCBB team.
Just look at the BY, where there are posters who almost write books on individual games, ideas, or any item of interest to them. It is amazing what we pontificate on. bad? heck no. The BY posters have to write, get their thoughts out revel in our Huskies. I get it, I also understand why many can't resist reading anything and everything about our Huskies. Get a bad article, stop looking, heck no it's on to the next bit of info we can find. Let’s face it we are hungry, out of control and definitely addicted to everything UConn WBB. An intervention, heck no, just shot me another article to feed my Husky hunger.

One of the bizarre aspects of some of these clickbait articles is they are so thinly sourced that they will quote “unnamed sources” from social media sites. I am practically certain that when it comes to UConn WBB, some of these sources are posters here on the Boneyard.