\u00a9 Photo: L\u00e9on Dijksman<\/p>\n\n
Recently, I saw a TikTok video by a traveling influencer showing footage of Brussels North Station accompanied by dramatic music. The text on screen? “Welcome to the worst city in Europe.”<\/em> As someone who loves Brussels and is fascinated by marketing, I immediately knew what was happening: I wasn’t watching an honest travelogue, but a perfectly executed piece of Rage Baiting<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n Influencers have discovered that a video praising a city to the skies often gets stuck at a few thousand views. But claim that a capital city is a “hellhole,” and the counter skyrockets. <\/p>\n\n Why? Because as humans, we are programmed to respond to injustice and negativity. <\/p>\n\n From a marketing perspective<\/strong>, this is a cynical form of ‘engagement hacking’. The quality of the interaction (anger) does not matter; only the quantity counts for advertising revenue. <\/p>\n\n A city like Brussels is reduced to a ‘thumbnail’ to generate clicks.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n What makes this interesting from a tech standpoint<\/strong> is how the interface of platforms like TikTok encourages this behavior. Due to the short attention span, there is no room for nuance. An influencer deliberately films the 1% of a city that looks bad and presents it as the 100%.<\/p>\n\n A city like Brussels is reduced to a ‘thumbnail’ to generate clicks, without considering the reputational damage to the local economy or tourism.<\/p>\n\n In my work in management and marketing<\/strong>, we often emphasize authenticity<\/em> and brand value<\/em>. However, the ‘City Slander’ trend shows the dark side: in the short term, you win clicks (quantity), but in the long term, you lose your credibility (quality). <\/p>\n\n If you become known as a ‘travel creator’ who only spews negativity for views, you eventually become a parody of yourself. You are not building a community, but an audience of disaster tourists. <\/p>\n\n The next time you see a video that completely tears down a city (or a company, or a person), ask yourself: Am I being informed here, or am I being used for someone’s engagement ratio?<\/em><\/p>\n\n Brussels certainly has its challenges. But a city is more than the worst street near the station. Let us as consumers be smarter than the algorithm and stop feeding the ‘rage bait’. <\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An influencer deliberately films the 1% of a city that looks bad and presents it as the 100%.","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[118,107],"tags":[155,154,153],"class_list":["post-1235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-marketing","category-trends","tag-city-slander","tag-hate-click","tag-rage-baiting-2","cs-entry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe anatomy of a ‘hate-click’<\/h3>\n\n
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Technology as a catalyst for a one-sided image<\/h3>\n\n
What can we learn from this? (The Management lesson) <\/h3>\n\n
Look beyond the ‘bait’<\/h3>\n\n