Rage Bait and Content Farms – The Bane of Social Media

Within the meantime, I needed to challenge a PSA of types, as a result of social media is a factor I each love and hate, most likely with equal measure, on the identical time. And there’s one thing that has me hating it these days, and that’s content material farmers (content material thieves) and rage bait.

Are you acquainted with the time period “rage bait”? Rage bait is when somebody posts one thing outrageous for the only real objective of getting interactions from individuals — likes, feedback, shares. Why do they do that? As a result of they’re getting paid for it. Platforms like Fb pay giant pages for interactions, so there are pages which might be crammed with nothing however silly rage bait posts, and so they exist for no motive however to get a ton of engagement in order that they’ll receives a commission a lot of cash (most likely hundreds of {dollars}) every month from Fb for the exercise on their pages. I don’t know if Instagram pays for engagement, however I do know for a undeniable fact that Fb and X (Twitter) do.

Not solely that, however there are tons of pages that exist on nothing however stolen, uncredited content material. This morning after I awakened, I grabbed my cellphone, opened up my Fb app, and the very first submit I noticed on my Fb feed was this submit.

I’m certain that appears acquainted all of you, proper? Sure, this web page not solely stole all 17 of my photos of my home, however additionally they copied my caption phrase for phrase and posted it on their web page with out crediting or tagging me. That is one web page of most likely hundreds that exist on Fb for the only real objective of posting stolen content material, with out credit score or tagging, to drive up engagement (likes, feedback, and shares) in order that they’ll get a month-to-month test from Fb.

I can’t even categorical to you ways a lot I hate these pages. And no, watermarking pictures gained’t assist. I’ve been running a blog for 17 years now, and for 16 of these years, I watermarked each single image. However nowadays of AI, watermarks will be eliminated in a second. These pages will take seconds to take away watermarks and repost stolen content material for the only real objective of being profitable. And since they solely submit stolen content material, they’ve limitless content material at their fingertips that they’ll steal, submit, and make cash off of.

However the worst is the fashion bait. I see submit after submit after submit that’s nothing however rage bait. They submit these silly photos or movies (once more, most likely stolen) KNOWING that they’re going to drive individuals batty sufficient that individuals gained’t be capable to simply scroll by with out commenting on the stupidity of the submit. That’s their complete purpose. They need individuals to really feel like they NEED to touch upon the idiocy being displayed on the submit. That drives up engagement, which drives up the sum of money they make.

Every time I see considered one of these rage bait posts with hundreds of feedback on them, all from individuals saying the identical factor like, “That is so silly!”, I simply roll my eyes and assume, “You’re doing precisely what they needed you to do.” They know what they’re doing. They’re not as silly as that one explicit submit might make them seem. Their solely purpose is engagement as a result of they need the cash your engagement with their submit generates.

The second submit I noticed this morning, proper after that submit with my stolen content material, was a rage bait image and caption that I’ve seen posted on no fewer than 10 totally different Fb pages thus far. I ought to have taken a display shot of it in order that I might present you. I’m certain I’ll see it once more in the present day, so after I do, I’ll add an image. However it’s an image of a assist submit for a raised deck set on a concrete pier, however the assist submit is sitting solely midway on the concrete pier, with half of it floating off the sting of the concrete pier. And the caption reads one thing like, “I did this work for the home-owner, and she or he’s refusing to pay me!” Naturally, individuals see that image, learn that caption, assume it’s probably the most ridiculous factor for an individual to anticipate to be paid for such shoddy work, and may’t resist the urge to react and remark and let the particular person know the way silly he’s for anticipating fee for that form of work.

I’ve seen so many posts like this. One other instance is cooking movies the place a lady would possibly say, “I’m going to share the recipe for my children’ favourite dinner!” whereas she proceeds to dump a bag of Cheetos right into a casserole dish, cowl it with chunks of Spam, a jar of “cheese product” and another pleasant substances, after which put it within the oven. She takes it out, places that slop on a plate, and exhibits you the completed product. Naturally, individuals can’t resist the urge to say issues like, “I can’t consider you feed that to your children for dinner!” and “How do you not know the way unhealthy that’s to your children?”

They know. THEY KNOW. It’s rage bait. The complete objective of the submit is to get you to remark, react to the submit, share the submit, and so forth. They’re turning your rage and disgust into hundreds of {dollars} of earnings each month.

That is my private plea to you. Don’t interact with the fashion baiters and content material farmers on any social media platform. Resist the urge. They know precisely what they’re doing, and it’s all for cash. They know that shoddy work isn’t acceptable. They’re probably not feeding their children Cheeto and Spam casserole for dinner. All they’re doing is deliberately stirring you up so that you simply’ll interact with their posts in order that they’ll make cash. And so they’re turning social media platforms like Fb and X and the others that pay for engagement into absolute cesspools of stupidity. Don’t assist them line their pockets. Have interaction with individuals and pages you understand and belief. Depart the content material farmers and rage baiters to rot on the vine.