Tricked by a Headline

As someone who loves to blog, I am often super careful to avoid “headline bait.” These are the headlines you click on because they grab your attention. You arrive at the story, only to be disappointed that the article is about something else entirely.

Quite frankly, you end up feeling ‘suckered.’

In a rare moment of weakness, I got Punk’d by CNN this morning. One of their top headlines:

Star dies an explosive death

Thinking that some Hollywood B-lister smashed his car into a wall, I quickly clicked over – only to be met with some astronomy junk that I could care less about.

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I don’t really deserve better. After all, what kind of perverse sicko wants to read about the misfortunes of a ‘star.’

So what do you think? Do headlines like the one above get credited as good headlines or as a sucker punch?

Picture of Andrew G.R.

Andrew G.R.

Andrew G.R. is the owner of Jobacle, a career advice and employment news blog and podcast designed to make work better. Follow him on Twitter.

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