Wednesday, April 30, 2014

The Onion Launches Clickhole to Take On BuzzFeed, Upworthy

From New York Business Journal:
The Onion sets its sights on BuzzFeed, Upworthy
Finally! The Onion is taking on BuzzFeed and Upworthy on their turf.

This June the satire site — stuck for now in the hopelessly 20th century business of spoofing reported, written news articles — will launch  Clickhole.com.

What's that? It's a website that's "putting content and sponsored posts side by side, with barely any distinction between them," according to "Jim Haggerty," an Onion News Network host played by Brad Holbrook.

The Onion announced the new site at its digital content NewFronts presentation Tuesday afternoon in Midtown. And the sneak preview of Clickhole.com does not disappoint.

"People will climb into this click hole and find content so interesting they won't be able to keep it to themselves," "Haggerty" said. "Every post is engineered to be as shareable as possible, so it spreads like a deadly wildfire on social media."

A few items previewed from Clickhole.com include:
  • Quizzes like "Which pizza should I have for dinner tonight? (presented by Pizza Hut)"
  • Uplifting personal tales in list forms: "Seven pricks that defied the odds and didn't go into finance."
  • The aww factor: A video titled "What this adorable little girl says will melt your heart." (It's actually a cogent explanation of how brands monetize adorable little kids, as spoken by an adorable little kid.)
  • And finally, photo slide shows with no words: "Six kinds of hay."
...MORE

Currently at clickhole.com:


June 2014

Coming this summer: an all-new internet experience filled with content so shareable, snackable, and clickable, it will rob you of all logic and reason. Until then, use the guide below to learn the proper method of clicking.
how to click
Practice clicking the button below between 800,000 to 12 million times in preparation for our launch this June.
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