It’s a chicken-and-egg problem. News content, just like all other content, is tracked and analyzed for engagement.
Publishers want to create content that people want to engage with, and we see over and over again that people prefer content that elicits a reaction.
Also, news subscriptions are now seen as a luxury good and not an essential need. Who wants to pay $15/month for a report on how many people died of heart disease this month?
It might be worth paying to get good information free of "engagement farming". But even someone who does pay such a subscription, probably would not read it.
Comments
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem. News content, just like all other content, is tracked and analyzed for engagement.
Publishers want to create content that people want to engage with, and we see over and over again that people prefer content that elicits a reaction.
Also, news subscriptions are now seen as a luxury good and not an essential need. Who wants to pay $15/month for a report on how many people died of heart disease this month?
It might be worth paying to get good information free of "engagement farming". But even someone who does pay such a subscription, probably would not read it.
Publishers want to create content that people want to engage with
The number of people engaging with the news has plummeted in the past couple of decades so if that's the goal they're not doing a very good job.
If it bleeds it leads baby!