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7 Reasons Why the Listicle Will Never Die
And why it’s still the most influential type of content in print and online
If you want to show your sophistication as a writer, you are required to publicly ridicule the listicle. You must loudly proclaim that listicles are all clickbait trash — the epitome of style over substance.
However, as much literary hate as the listicle attracts, it is one of the most durable and influential types of content both on the web and in print.
The listicle isn’t going anywhere.
Almost every online article owes its formatting to the listicle. The reason blog posts, even ones that aren’t lists, have several subheadings is because that is how listicles are formatted, and readers love listicles.
If you check out the covers of magazines and the trending stories from most newspapers, you will find listicles and articles that look a lot like listicles.
That’s not to say that there are not a lot of trashy, clickbait-heavy listicles in the world. That’s why the listicle has such a bad name. There is nothing more frustrating than clicking on an intriguing headline only to find a page loaded with ads and only a few lines of text relating to the headline.