Snarkbait Is the New Linkbait
Forget linkbait! There’s this new hot thing going around the blogosphere, and I prefer to call it snarkbait. It’s when a blogger bashes another blogger, and that other blogger lashes back, along with an army of other bloggers bashing the original blogger, and possibly linking to his posts. Get the idea?
It’s not like flamebait, because flames are usually senseless utterances made to provoke anger (or utterances in anger themselves). But snark is a whole class in itself.
It’s even better if you throw snarky blog posts about a well-known blogger—preferably an A lister, or someone known and reputable in his niche. And it’s even way better if you write snarky stuff about snarky bloggers. That’s sure to generate some flame wars in blog posts and comment threads. I like to call this sharkbait. Why sharkbait? Sharks are the biggest of fish. And won’t it be great if you can bait the big fish and reel them in after they bite (it’s great for the Google PR, too, in case they’re foolish enough to link).
So, how does one write snarkbait? Simple. Go target any blogger. Take your pick, but it’s best if you know that blogger to have a good following (so people will notice!). Write about how his writing is crappy, and how his pseudo-intellectualism reeks of attention-grabbing (just like what you’re doing!). And then write about how he must have been deprived in his youth, or how his work must suck for him to write such crud, or something like that.
Then go target his friends. Write about how bad a company he keeps.
Make sure you link to these people you’re writing about. And make sure these links generate trackbacks or pingbacks.
Then wait a couple of days and hope that you’ve had their attention.
Then again, subtlety works, too. Try to drop a few hints here and there on your posts, possibly referring to those people. But then that won’t be as exciting, would it?
What do you think?