ESPN:Click-Bait Gate

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ESPN is being called out yet again, as they continue to use false play buttons on their Twitter page.

If a user clicks on the play button in the tweet, surprise... it doesn’t play the video! Instead, it drives users to ESPN’s website, where site traffic is easily monetized. Misleading play buttons are very common in today's rapid media news cycle. Publishers will do anything to get people to consume their content. However, I'm extremely surprised that a sports giant like ESPN would mislead their readers just to increase site traffic. Personally, I would think they'd have a better marketing strategy to entertain and engage consumers instead of creating an unfriendly user experience. This is nothing new though. ESPN was caught posting the same misleading play buttons on Facebook a while back but these have since been removed.

So why hasn't Twitter caught on yet? If ESPN backs it's claim as the leader in sports, why is this gimmick necessary?

BTB Note: If you have to mislead someone into doing something, you should probably reevaluate your approach and create a better pitch.

#ESPN #NBA #NFL #Sports #Twitter #Facebook