Content analysis reveals authentic vulnerability outperforms sensational clickbait in Christian TikTok content, suggesting audiences favor genuine sharing over traditional digital persuasion.
Analyzing 325 #ChristianTikTok videos, this study examines how Christian TikTok creators employ clickbait and persuasion tactics to exploit viewers’ uncertainty and drive engagement. Drawing on Hogg’s Uncertainty-Identity Theory and Loewenstein’s Information Gap Theory of Curiosity, findings reveal that creators strategically prioritize inclusive group identity messaging over extremist beliefs, use distinct clickbait strategies (humor-based, emotion-based, production-based), and paradoxically find that traditional sensational tactics (humor, opinion leadership) negatively predict engagement while authentic vulnerability (mental health content) drives shares. Results suggest that Gen Z users may be developing resistance to sensationalized clickbait and are attracted to authenticity-based persuasion. Finally, the study’s theoretical implications and practical implications for platform governance and digital religious literacy are discussed.
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Burkett et al. (2026) studied this question.
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