On social media there is a type of content that seems to beat every algorithm, ending up before the eyes of practically everyone: it is “sadbait” content, i.e. posts that tell or stage sad, moving, in a word emotionally strong stories. The reason why they are so successful lies not only in the logic of social media, but also in those that govern our minds.
Human beings have always been he is attracted come on sad and touching stories. It was like that in the days of Greek tragedywhich according to Aristotle offered spectators the opportunity to purify themselves from his biggest fears without really living them, and that’s how it is today, in the times of social media. In short, the scenario changes, no longer the theater but the smartphone, but not the substance.
The proof of this ancestral human need is in ours algorithms: success on social media emotionally strong content – it matters little whether they are true or invented stories – it is so strong that a name has even been coined to indicate them: communications scholars have called them “sadbait” content. The reason is quite clear: these are clickbait posts that exploit the feeling of sadness oruser emotion. Yet, although many of these contents are created ad hoc by content creators for attract traffic to your profilestheir use by users can also have positive implications.
What is sadbait content
Even if each of us has a different feedboth on Instagram and on TikTok, dictated by the algorithm that studies our tastes and offers us what we like most and which manages to capture our attentionwe have probably all come across, even more than once, posts that tell sad stories. Sometimes, so dramatic that it makes us doubt their authenticity.
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But that of sadbait posts is a now structured trend, which has given rise to many different types of content: there are moving stories, post of kittens in dangerous situations or in extreme poverty created with Artificial Intelligence, and then there are the silent posts in which over a generally lugubrious or melancholic background, such as a street lamp along a desolate avenue or a sunset over the sea, one reads random quotes about depression or the difficulties of life. However, one thing all this content has in common: users like it a lot, and for this reason the rules of the algorithm reward them, making them go viral.
Why we need sad stories
The phenomenon is more multifaceted than it might seem. This is demonstrated by the variety of types of sadbait content present on social media, however the reason for their success is essentially always the same, although with different nuances: Soma Basu, investigative journalist and researcher at the University of Tampere in Finland, explained to the BBC that in endless flow of content proposed by social media, posts that have a strong emotional component function as hooking for the interest of userscapturing their attention.
A sharing space
Not only that. According to Nina Lutz, a researcher who studies the phenomenon of disinformation at Washington University, in addition to making us feel strong emotions, this type of content works because it often becomes a space for sharing and openness for users. This is the case of posts inspired by topics such as depression: even if in the end they are simple sentences, sometimes even a little obvious, just open the comments section to understand that they are not just that: often dozens, if not hundreds, of users tell their life experience. Evidence, among other things, of a new openness to issues relating to mental healthsuch as anxiety disorders or depression, also made possible thanks to social media.
Therefore, regardless of the objectives with which they were created and posted, these contents seem to have an at least partly positive function when they open a tradea sharing space, in which people, perhaps precisely because they are hidden by a screen, are able to talk about difficult aspects of their existenceotherwise still too often relegated to silence from fear of judgment.
