Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A The art of clickbait captions

All of those examples imply there is some specific kind of secret knowledge you can learn quickly that will change your life. In your example, "really famous" is not specific enough. First, in wri...

posted 5y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-19T22:13:47Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45328
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T11:57:03Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45328
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T11:57:03Z (about 5 years ago)
All of those examples imply there is some **specific** kind of secret knowledge you can learn quickly that will change your life.

In your example, "really famous" is not specific enough. First, in writing, "really" is an intensifier without meaning. What exactly is the difference between being "famous" and "really famous"? Or "mad" and "really mad"?

Even then, famous for what? Ted Bundy is really famous as a serial killer of 30 young women and girls.

Your examples make specific major promises easily learned: The secret of life with one simple trick. A single secret that implies you might become a billionaire. Ten specific actions that might save your life. There is a way you might be rich and unaware of it.

For your example, "One simple trick to gain thousands of new twitter followers" would be click-bait for people that want to become famous.

The trick is to offer something **specific** that people will want (a product, an experience, knowledge) in return for an extremely small **specific** effort. That is why such offers are often followed by "You won't believe #4!": Disbelief and surprise are typically pleasant visceral experiences, and you are teasing that with a specific slide (or list item).

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-05-22T14:25:30Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 12