dee2364
09-07-2023, 09:58 AM
I don't know if this is appropriate, but I'll post about this for American posters to spread awareness and get some action going.
So, you know how there will be these articles, particularly "top 10" about American movies, TV shows, etc.? And you read them and they're not only dead wrong but infuriating enough to get you to post in the comments? For instance, you might see an article that says something like, "Top Worst Sitcoms of All Time" and it might have "My Mother the Car" but also something popular like "Family Ties." Or maybe you'll see articles that say something, "Top 20 Things that Boomers Never Had," and it'll say something ridiculous like, "Microwaves," or, "Debit Card," etc.
Those types of articles are on sites called "content farms." Content farms are websites that get amateurs to put out thousands of junk clickbait articles for ad revenue. Some of the amateurs are kids who don't know anything about American culture or history. Some aren't even American, but will write shallow (and usually incorrect) articles teaching pop history.
Content farms are more widespread on the internet because about three years ago, all the major news outlets wanted Google, Facebook and all the other major platforms to start paying them. The social media platforms refused and have decided to run content farms instead.
Bing News is one of the worst offenders (of pushing content farms), with the other platforms not far behind:
https://i.imgur.com/If47wb5.png
Content farms are evil because they are miseducating American youth about our pop culture and American history. But a lot of these articles are inciting anger and inspiring outrage. For example, a standard form of clickbait is to claim that really popular shows are racist or sexist. The authors don't believe it; it's just clickbait to inspire outrage, since outrage generates clicks. Many of these content farms are also the drivers behind a lot of inter-generational conflict in the US.
If you're an American reading a listicle article, rather than think "stupid Boomer/Millennial/GenZ/liberal/Conservative," look for the author byline and do a search. Run a check on the publication as well. You'd be shocked to find how many article writers have no writing credentials, aren't even American and how many of the publications were only just set up a year or two ago.
So, you know how there will be these articles, particularly "top 10" about American movies, TV shows, etc.? And you read them and they're not only dead wrong but infuriating enough to get you to post in the comments? For instance, you might see an article that says something like, "Top Worst Sitcoms of All Time" and it might have "My Mother the Car" but also something popular like "Family Ties." Or maybe you'll see articles that say something, "Top 20 Things that Boomers Never Had," and it'll say something ridiculous like, "Microwaves," or, "Debit Card," etc.
Those types of articles are on sites called "content farms." Content farms are websites that get amateurs to put out thousands of junk clickbait articles for ad revenue. Some of the amateurs are kids who don't know anything about American culture or history. Some aren't even American, but will write shallow (and usually incorrect) articles teaching pop history.
Content farms are more widespread on the internet because about three years ago, all the major news outlets wanted Google, Facebook and all the other major platforms to start paying them. The social media platforms refused and have decided to run content farms instead.
Bing News is one of the worst offenders (of pushing content farms), with the other platforms not far behind:
https://i.imgur.com/If47wb5.png
Content farms are evil because they are miseducating American youth about our pop culture and American history. But a lot of these articles are inciting anger and inspiring outrage. For example, a standard form of clickbait is to claim that really popular shows are racist or sexist. The authors don't believe it; it's just clickbait to inspire outrage, since outrage generates clicks. Many of these content farms are also the drivers behind a lot of inter-generational conflict in the US.
If you're an American reading a listicle article, rather than think "stupid Boomer/Millennial/GenZ/liberal/Conservative," look for the author byline and do a search. Run a check on the publication as well. You'd be shocked to find how many article writers have no writing credentials, aren't even American and how many of the publications were only just set up a year or two ago.