1. The Urgent / Meaningless Science Scare.
Example:
First Sentence: New research shows that consuming blueberries results in chronic baldness and / or death!
Buried at the Bottom: scientists involved in the research stress that these results are preliminary, and in no way support that thing we said in the first sentence.
Science is complicated, and complicated things are hard to turn into click bait. I understand. But please, stop doing this.
2. The “You Should Make The Same Life Decisions As I Made” Op-Ed.
Example:
I... (a) married early (b) married late (c) got pregnant young (d) got pregnant old (e) got a liberal arts degree (f) dropped out of college ... and so should you!
Also, I have two other anecdotes that illustrate why my choices are right for everyone!
Congratulations! You’re about to be reblogged by hundreds of supportive or outraged people. And you’ve managed to do it without injecting anything helpful into the public sphere.
3. The “Cool Church” Story.
Example:
Pastor Bob Whatshisface isn’t your ordinary preacherman. He wears jeans, is into coffee and skate culture, and often injects pop culture into his sermons! And he’s attracted a large congregation of young people who enjoy homebrewing and skinny jeans!
What’s next? A CEO who wears casual clothing in a downtown loft where young people work in offices decorated with quirky Japanese toys? Modern life is craaaazzzy!
4. The “Important Trend” Piece.
Example:
Five young moms in Brooklyn have started a cat/baby yoga club in which their babies do advanced yoga positions with the help of cats! A sociologist at CUNY says this has something to do with millennials.
A couple of people a friend of your friend knows, deciding to do a thing, does not make that thing a thing. It’s not a thing.
5. The “Twittertroversy” Story.
Example:
After the events of Wednesday, at least five people on Twitter said things that were offensive and bad. A spokesman for some organization was very offended by these offensive statements.
“The offensive comments produced by some people on Twitter, and also the comments section of YouTube, were highly offensive, and clearly show that society is super bigoted and terrible. Everyone should get very mad at this.”
Because any statistician worth his salt would tell you that some people saying some words online are always representative of the views held by the population at large. This has lead many experts to predict that the 2016 election will be dominated by the debate over whether a tiger or a lion is “the best animal.”
Search for “Lion vs Tiger” on YouTube for further reading.
