Reader,

The other day, I found myself trapped in a car with an Uber driver who either hadn't eaten that day or was just a natural hothead.

In a 20-something minute trip, he managed to find at least 5 things to get angry about.

(Do the math, that's once every 4 minutes. Impressive, if you ask me.)

Exhibit A: The driver in front of us was too slow. Cue expletives with a generous sprinkle of Yoruba curses.

Exhibit B: Police officers stopped us at a “checkpoint”. Another anger outburst.

(Can’t really blame him for this one though. Those guys wanted something, and it was definitely not his driver’s license💀)

Exhibit C: A traffic warden stopped him from making a U-turn where he wanted to, so he had to drive further down to turn. More curses and insults.

Plus two others that I can’t bother to remember now.

And while this guy may have been an extreme case… here’s what I’ve discovered:

People enjoy being angry.

They revel in finding something to be mad about.

I was once in a conversation with someone, and she flat out told me: “I enjoy getting angry. I like the way it feels.”

And yes, I was a bit taken aback by her honesty. But her confession didn’t surprise me much.

People love to get angry so much that they'll go out of their way to find something to be angry about.

It’s why ragebait works so well on social media. The average internet user is on the tip of an outburst, waiting for the slightest provocation to send them over the edge.

Some so-called experts even teach it as a marketing strategy. I imagine their handbook looks something like this:

• Post an unnecessary or controversial take like, "It's childish to still be celebrating your birthday as an adult" or "If you're not using an iPhone 17, you're broke".
• Cut a clip out of context and add a misleading caption.
• Always start your comment with an insult. Reply before thinking. Don’t apologize even when you’re wrong.
• Intentionally leave in a typo so people can point it out.
• Call out at least one famous person every week for something they did that you don’t agree with. Or for just existing.
• Cook up a triggering story and ask, "If you were the one, what would you do?"

I see it all the time on the internet. I know you do too, Reader.

(Though, if getting people furious is your major strategy for gaining views and growing an audience... you’re building a mob, not a community. And mobs eventually run out of other targets and turn on the person who brought them together.)

I’ve never understood why people do it.

In my opinion, ragebaiting is one of the worst methods you can use to “blow up” or build a personal brand.

Does it work? Yes.

Is it sustainable enough to build a community of people who enjoy your (online) company? Definitely not.

There are saner ways to attract your people without getting them mad all the time (pun very much intended)

And this is one of the things I’ll be teaching at The Genius Storyteller workshop next week Tuesday.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I’m excite— no, “excited” is an understatement— I’m euphoric just thinking about the time we’ll have on Tuesday.

I’ll be sharing with them creative and relatable story ideas that’ll have the right people flocking to their content like Fayo to a basket of ripe mangoes*. I’ll also be showing them exactly how to tell those stories to keep people hooked till the end.

(Between me and you, I’m worried that I’ll be sharing so much that we won’t have enough time to cover all the slides)

Anyways, back to ragebaiting.

A suggestion for your contribution to society this week: When you see a post that’s obviously ragebait, just scroll past.

Resist the urge to drop the comment, Reader. That’s exactly what they want you to do, so don’t fall into the trap.

You’re better than their bait.

Fayo

PS: In case you were wondering, “ragebait” is something intentionally posted online to upset people and get them to react, comment, or share it.

And yes, your favorite social media apps don’t just allow it, they encourage it. (It’s why whenever you open a viral post, the top comment is almost always something negative.)

Because they know anger is one of the easiest ways to keep people busy.

*PPS: I can’t wait to eat my first mango of the year! I know I can get it to buy now, btw. I just don’t trust the ones they sell before April. And yes, I’m speaking from experience.

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