Rage Bait and Content Farms - The Bane of Social Media

Y’all, I swear to you that I spent yesterday engaged on my closet island, however I bumped into drawback after drawback that I needed to remedy. That signifies that I didn’t get sufficient achieved to even share the progress with you this morning. That should wait for one more day.

Within the meantime, I needed to concern a PSA of kinds, as a result of social media is a factor I each love and hate, in all probability with equal measure, on the similar 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 accustomed to the time period “rage bait”? Rage bait is when somebody posts one thing outrageous for the only real goal of getting interactions from folks — 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 can be full of 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 numerous cash (in all probability 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 incontrovertible 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 once I awakened, I grabbed my telephone, 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 footage 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 in all probability hundreds that exist on Fb for the only real goal 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 verify from Fb.

I can’t even categorical to you the way a lot I hate these pages. And no, watermarking photographs received’t assist. I’ve been running a blog for 17 years now, and for 16 of these years, I watermarked each single image. However at the present time 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 goal of earning profits. 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 footage or movies (once more, in all probability stolen) KNOWING that they’re going to drive folks batty sufficient that individuals received’t be capable of simply scroll by with out commenting on the stupidity of the submit. That’s their complete purpose. They need folks 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 one in every of these rage bait posts with hundreds of feedback on them, all from folks 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 specific submit could 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 completely different Fb pages to date. I ought to have taken a display shot of it in order that I may present you. I’m certain I’ll see it once more right now, so once I do, I’ll add an image. But it surely’s an image of a help submit for a raised deck set on a concrete pier, however the help 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, folks see that image, learn that caption, assume it’s essentially the most ridiculous factor for an individual to anticipate to be paid for such shoddy work, and might’t resist the urge to react and remark and let the particular person know the way silly he’s for anticipating cost for that type of work.

UPDATE: I noticed the submit described above…once more. I see this submit no less than thrice per week. Simply learn the caption and also you’ll see how silly it’s.

The image might be stolen (because it has proven up on a number of Fb pages), the caption is an entire lie, made as much as make folks learn it and really feel the necessity to level out the stupidity, and it really works each single time. Simply have a look at the variety of interactions — chortle responses, feedback, shares. Primarily based on these numbers, I’d estimate that web page in all probability made anyplace from $400 to $500 on that single submit alone from Fb. However that’s all that this web page posts — footage of wierd and ridiculous issues, or asking for enter on numerous residence points, all with the captions beginning with “I’ve this drawback…” and “I’ve this bizarre window…” and “What can I do with this awkward house in my home…” and on, and on. You scroll by means of all of their (stolen) footage, and it’s apparent that each one of these points, awkward areas, and many others., can’t presumably be from one particular person’s residence. They’re all stolen. They’re all bizarre points or rage bait, and so they’re all an effort to maximise responses, feedback, and shares, to maximise Fb monetization.

I’ve seen so many posts like this. One other instance is cooking movies the place a girl may 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 elements, after which put it within the oven. She takes it out, places that slop on a plate, and exhibits you the completed product. Naturally, folks can’t resist the urge to say issues like, “I can’t imagine you feed that to your children for dinner!” and “How do you not know the way unhealthy that’s in your children?”

They know. THEY KNOW. It’s rage bait. The whole goal of the submit is to get you to remark, react to the submit, share the submit, and many others. They’re turning your rage and disgust into hundreds of {dollars} of revenue 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 just’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 folks and pages you recognize and belief. Go away the content material farmers and rage baiters to rot on the vine.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. 😀 And once more, I promise you that I’m engaged on the closet! I’ll share my progress with you as quickly as I’ve progress to truly share.

Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I transform and embellish the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do nearly all of the work on the home on my own. You can learn more about me here.

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