Member-only story
Why You Scroll Forever Just to Get a Recipe
Just about everyone has felt the frustration of scrolling past many paragraphs to get to the recipe on a food blog. The drawn-out story before the recipe is often the subject of memes, jokes, and uproar online. If we are just there for the recipe, the long tale of where the blogger is from and their story surrounding the dish can often appear laughably superfluous. Common reactions are:
“So sick of this. Where is the “jump to recipe”button?”
“It grinds my gears when people waste my time and don’t just give me the recipe right away!”
But there is a good reason for this… I think it will make most people not in the know feel entitled and naive. But anyway here goes….
Why the long story?
These bloggers are not offering these recipes out of the good of their own hearts, it’s about making money.
The longer story makes more room for more ads, which is a large part of the income that the blogger makes. That’s why they take the time to offer the recipe, provide pictures, pay for the website, etc.
The more words that are in the blog, the more description, the more information, the more it can be found in Google search, and the more people come to see the ads!
If the product is “free”, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT!
I am shocked that people don’t know this, probably about 85% of the people I talk to complain about the long story before the blog, as it should just be free and come without any fluff. Do they ever wonder why it’s there and available to them?
Is it a complete lack of self-awareness or lack of business acumen? Or both?
I secretly hope people are just ignorant and this information would help them realize that nothing is free, but there’s a cynical part of me that knows deep down people really are this entitled. It’s pretty sad, but I think it’s just another one of those minute things don't think about. They need a recipe and…
