Clickhole: what is the new viral news site all about?
The Onion's new social news site Clickhole lampoons BuzzFeed and wants your clicks
Clickhole, a new publication from the team behind satirical news company The Onion, is a spoof website that has BuzzFeed, UpWorthy and The Daily Mail squarely in its sights.
The site parodies social news website that trade in picture galleries, quizzes and "listicles" – articles made up of pictures, factoids and gifs. It also mocks the growing prevalence of "clickbait" headlines – those teasing titles that are written specifically to entice you to click on them.
Clickhole stories offer headlines such as: 7 Photos Of Harrison Ford’s Ankle In Its Prime, Want To Feel Old? The Movie ‘High Fidelity’ Would Be A Sexy 14-Year-Old By Now and 10 Adorable Pictures Of Pugs That Are Exclusively For Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki Because He’s Probably Super Stressed Out Right Now And He Needs Them.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The New York Times suggests that the site's "animating spirit" may be Jessica, an eight-year-old girl who, in a video on the site, explains why someone might end up on Clickhole. She explains: “You want me to say something adorable because, well, you're lonely. And you really just need something to fill the emptiness you're feeling deep down inside. Just remember, no matter how many videos you watch, or how many lists you read, you’re still going to feel all alone".
Even the site's advertising is tongue-in-cheek. On the right-hand side of the homepage sit ads in a box marked "CashHole", and at the bottom of each story, readers will encounter sponsored articles from other sites titled: "Poor Websites In Need Of Clicks".
The site is a direct response to the current direction of online news, says Stuff.co.nz: "Clickhole highlights not only the vacuousness of much of what people share on social media, but the media’s cynical (if understandable) response to an advertiser-driven incentive structure that rewards page views over substance".
In an email interview with the New York Times, Clickhole's editor, Jermaine Affonso, said: "we see the ideal ClickHole reader as a hollow shell who exists purely to click on our content and then share that content with other hollow shells … We want the future to completely lack believability. That’s what ClickHole is all about".
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Nigeria's worsening rate of maternal mortality
Under the radar Economic crisis is making hospitals unaffordable, with women increasingly not receiving the care they need
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Elevating Earth Day into a national holiday is not radical — it's practical'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
UAW scores historic win in South at VW plant
Speed Read Volkswagen workers in Tennessee have voted to join the United Auto Workers union
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
Gaza hospital blast: What the video evidence shows about who's to blame
Speed Read Nobody wants to take responsibility for the deadly explosion in the courtyard of Gaza's al-Ahli Hospital. Roll the tape.
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Giraffe poo seized after woman wanted to use it to make a necklace
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Helicopter sound arouses crocodiles
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Woman sues Disney over 'injurious wedgie'
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Emotional support alligator turned away from baseball stadium
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Europe's oldest shoes found in Spanish caves
Tall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Artworks stolen by Nazis returned to heirs of cabaret performer
It wasn't all bad Good news stories from the past seven days
By The Week Staff Published