Hot take: Those "shocking truth" video titles with the red arrows are getting worse

I used to click on them thinking they'd reveal something legit, but after watching one that claimed "scientists hate this" and it was just a guy selling alkaline water in Tulsa, I finally saw how empty these thumbnails really are. Anyone else start ignoring anything with a giant arrow pointing at nothing?

3 comments

3 Comments

walker.julia4d ago

Man I fell for one of those last week that said "doctors flabbergasted" and it was just a lady showing how to slice a mango with a special knife she was selling. The red arrow was pointing at the mango seed like it was some big secret. My clicker finger gets a cramp from holding back now when I see those thumbnails, but it's for the best. The worst ones are when the arrow points at a blank wall or some random person's facial expression that doesn't mean anything. I've started trusting thumbnails with no arrows way more than the ones that look like a Where's Waldo puzzle gone wrong.

olivia6701d ago

Nah I gotta disagree with yall on this one. I actually find the red arrow thing kinda helpful sometimes, not gonna lie. It tells me right away that this video is probably gonna be garbage and I can scroll past without wasting my time. Like those over the top thumbnails with the shocked face and the arrow pointing at absolutely nothing are basically a warning sign saying "this is clickbait, move along." I'd rather have that upfront honesty than a boring thumbnail that hides how dumb the video is until im already two minutes in. Plus sometimes the arrow genuinely does point at something worth looking at, like a weird product feature or a hidden detail. Theyre not all bad, just most of them.

paul_ramirez3d ago

@walker.julia Ever notice how grocery stores put the priciest stuff right at eye level? Same trick, different aisle.