Clickbait balls: Express tricks Liverpool fans with bullshit.com Alonso story
Click Balls: The Daily Express is at the forefront of the dead tree press’s battle for online clicks. Yesterday the self-styled “World’s Greatest Newspaper” had news to set Liverpool fans’ hearts aflutter. “Liverpool News: Xabi Alonso reveals he will be at Anfield next season,” declared the newspaper.
Alonso, the terrific Spanish midfielder playing at Bayern Munich, who was no less excellent in Liverpool red, is going to rejoin the Premier League club? Sounds like it. He has, after all, “revealed” his return to Anfield next season.
One clue that this story was constructed in an SEO’s wet dream comes via the URL at the top of the page. It runs:
http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/783228/Liverpool-Xabi-Alonso-News-Anfield-Jurgen-Klopp-Premier-League-Bayern-Munich
It’s just a collection of SEO-happy buzzwords. There is no story anything other than a Google bot can make any sense of.
And then comes the small print below that seductive headline:
Xabi Alonso: I will be at Liverpool next season
XABI ALONSO has revealed he will visit Liverpool next season.
Alonso is not coming to Liverpool to play for the club. Express writer Jack Otway tells his readers that some people have made that link:
The ex-Spain international has often been linked with an emotional return to Anfield.
Failing to add “See above”, Otway then explains the substance of his story:
And the 35-year-old veteran has admitted to still loving his former club and revealed a visit to watch them play with son Jontxu next season is on the cards.
Xavi Alsono might take his son to watch Liverpool net year. That’s a story first reported in the Liverpool Echo. “We are really looking forward to going back. I have heard great things about the new Main Stand,” Alonso tells the paper. “My son is desperate to go. He’s Liverpool born and always asks: ‘Dad. when are we going to Liverpool?’ I say: ‘Okay, but at the moment I have busy weekends! We will go, don’t worry.’”
The SEO-led Daily Express reports Alonso’s trip to see the new stand at Anfield as: “Liverpool News: Xabi Alonso reveals he will be at Anfield next season.”
The trend is to talk about fake news – but it’s good to see the Express going with the tried and tested bullshit.com model.
Posted: 25th, March 2017 | In: Liverpool, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
