Psychologists had discovered that a state of unquenchable curiosity could be cultivated. Humans are comfortable with ignorance, but they hate feeling deprived of information. Upworthy designed headlines to make readers feel an almost primal hunger for information just outside their grasp. It pioneered a style—which it called the “curiosity gap”—that explicitly teased readers, withholding just enough information to titillate the reader into going further. Classic example: “9 out of 10 Americans Are Completely Wrong About This Mind-Blowing Fact.” Six million readers couldn’t contain themselves
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