I've got this news feed app on my phone that usually curates articles based on my interests, which is generally okay. However, I've started noticing a lot of articles targeted towards gardeners. They come from various sources like Country Living or The Daily Mail and usually have these ridiculously eye-catching headlines. For example, one read "Experts Warn UK Gardeners to Do This in April 2025 or Risk Serious Damage to Hydrangeas"—and when I check them out, they mostly just offer typical gardening advice like "water them" or "dead head them." Initially, I thought there was something groundbreaking happening this year, but now I realize it's just recycled clickbait generated by AI. Anyone else experiencing this?
5 Answers
I used to work in online PR for gardening brands, and honestly, this tactic is pretty common. We would take simple tips from blog posts, throw them into a press release with a sensational headline, and send them off to get coverage. The format is designed to draw clicks, and it works! Unfortunately, the quality often doesn’t match the hype, but clicks are what drive the industry.
If these clickbait articles are working enough that they’re still being published, then they’re definitely effective, even if the content is bland!
Thank goodness I managed to disable this feature on my phone early on. It sounds really annoying to get bombarded with these fake articles!
Totally get where you’re coming from! It seems like AI is really ramping up the production of clickbait articles, targeting super specific niches like 'UK gardeners with hydrangeas.' It's wild how many of these articles are just machine-generated fluff! Most of what we read isn’t even penned by real humans anymore.
Yeah, it’s always some random tip about coffee grounds or banana peels, especially if you’ve ever looked up slug problems!
I’ve noticed similar patterns, and I don’t even care about hydrangeas! The pictures used are always these clearly AI-generated images of over-the-top hydrangea bushes, which feels so fake.
So true! It’s quite surprising to see major outlets jumping on this bandwagon. I can imagine there’s even a company out there that specializes in providing this mundane clickbait to various publications.