For years, online content promoters have profited by serving up lying clickbait to consumers. But now the average person can profit from those businesses, too.
Two such clickbait promoters recently went public on the Nasdaq stock market: Outbrain and Taboola. But both stocks have fallen hard since their public debuts. So, maybe their businesses aren’t that great after all.
What follows are some of the latest examples of lying clickbait that I’ve seen from Outbrain’s Smartfeed.
An article promoted by Outbrain titled “Julia Roberts’ daughter turns 16 and is her replica” used two different photos, neither of which featured her daughter.
One post showed Julia with her niece, actress Emma Roberts, from a movie premiere in February 2010. The other showed Julia in a Photoshopped picture with her younger self. (The latter photo is part of a series of pictures of celebrities paired with their younger selves. The illustrations were created by Linzi Silverman for People.com.)
An Outbrain article titled “[Photos] Meet Tom Selleck’s better half” used a photo of Selleck with Access Hollywood host Shaun Robinson, not his wife.
An Outbrain article titled “Tom Cruise’s private jet is absurd” used a photo of a tricked-out limousine. The limousine pictured is called the “Learmousine” because its designer used a Learjet’s fuselage to create a street-legal party bus. (See article by Insider.)
No comments:
Post a Comment