When you visit the social media sites X, these words have been used frenetically — clickbait, clout chaser and fame whore — by a fandom aghast and agitated, having a field day as they spew out expletives and vitriol.
A clickbait on the internet is content mainly aimed to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page. Yes, it is a noun.
A clout chaser, meanwhile, is a critical term for a person who is thought to be intent on attaining fame, especially one who tries to do so in ways considered desperate, such as leveraging their proximity to famous people or doing things considered foolish, degrading, or dangerous.
Afame whore, by definition, is an individual excessively driven to achieve fame or notoriety.
The last two terms are being thrown at an online entertainment writer, by fans, for writing a “damaging” story about the idol they love and support. The first word is hurled at the publication that greenlighted the story. They accuse it as peddler of a fake story, and its purpose, to gain views and readership, with a header that generated the creation of an online tempest, powered by the aggrieved fandom.
The trending topic about the publication, with special mention to the author of the story in the thread, remains on top of the music category with its view digits at an all-time high. The story writer has earned the most amount of attack and hatred.
The fandom has demanded that the online publication strike down the story and apologize to the artist whom they think was maligned by the misleading story. They also demand that the music company manage the singer to “protect their artist.”
The publication is not budging. The entertainment writer explains that the header has the requisite question mark and that when one reads its entirety, there is never a confirmation that the personalities used as part of the header are indeed in a blossoming romance. Calls on the management to protect the artist have fallen on deaf ears. They have better things to attend to and settle.
The artist, Mary Loi Yves Ricalde, popularly known as Maloi of Bini, has reacted to the story and declared that this kind of fake news must stop.
The other person in this clickbait story equation is Rico Blanco.
Blooms are the fans who urged the publication to apologize to Ms. Ricalde. They also ordered Star Music to protect and show off, not only palpable, but tangible proof, to keep the young miss from harm.
Whatever were the reasons of the online publication and its writer to make their header a clickbait, it is their prerogative. For sure, the onslaught of violent reactions was not what they wanted to reap. It is within their rights and parameters not to dignify all the accusations hurled at them. They stood by their online story. They cannot be faulted for the major kneejerk riposte of the fans and the manner they feigned because of it.
Clickbaiting is all over social media. Even in traditional media, it is a reality. On television, the “tabloid type” and “sensational” stories get first telecast before news of national importance. Some headlines on broadsheets and scandal press scream sensationalism. Others arouse the curiosity and entice readers to get hold of the papers. Many screech with bold letters and pictures that make a bystander grab a copy or scald the tongue of a reader as he takes his first sip of piping hot kapeng barako.
Will this clickbait ploy end? That, I sincerely doubt. If we are to use this recent incident as an indicator of its power and potency, then we can expect more of it to come.
It is up to the publisher and its editorial team to decide on this clickbait reality.
Another truth that this incident highlighted is the onion-skinned nature of this fandom, their quick-draw actions, and their manner of presenting their arguments and positions using the foulest of language. This kind of aggression and entitled mindset is most embarrassing as it focuses attention on how “good manners and right conduct” is alien to them. They employ the meanest words to express their points in the guise of protection, showing of their support and love for their idols.
The amount of energy and time they wasted, and how much and what kind of colors they revealed, what a pity. Indeed, youth is wasted on the young big time.
As of this writing, Mariaiah Queen Arceta, the Bini member nicknamed Aiah, has a viral photo. And in one, which she shared on her Instagram account, Barbie Forteza’s ex, Jak Roberto, is in it. Roberto, said kibitzers, also shared it on his social media page.
Thus, I cannot help but wonder, is this just coincidence or an orchestrated tactic to fuel and move another clickbait story?
The answer to this, we will all know in a heartbeat.