Science popularization activities on social media are experiencing a period of prosperity marked by diverse creation and significant public engagement. The influence of visual elements on click behavior when actively searching for science popularization videos warrants attention. This study employs ELM and visual persuasion theory to construct a model for "Visual-Driven Elaborated Click Behavior Influencing Factors, " aiming to comprehend public engagement in online science popularization and enhance the attractiveness of science popularization videos. The findings indicate that in the centralroute, image elements related to the video's theme termed as "content imagery," along with interrogative sentence titles with "information marking," significantly influence user clicks. Additionally, in the peripheralroute, elements such as bullet screen comments, likes, title length, video duration (referred to as "structural elements"), and "stylistic imagery" elements like thumbnail color and brightness also affect user click behavior during the proactive retrieval of science popularization videos. Contrary to expectations, the image quality of "formal imagery" is not a significant factor in user recognition of thumbnail elements and interestingly popularity did not have the usual significant impact on user decision-making in the Peripheralroute. Based on the findings, this paper proposes suggestions from four aspects：video thumbnail, title, interaction, and content production. These suggestions aim to enhance the click-through rate for science popularization videos in active retrieval scenarios, thus fostering the development of science popularization initiatives on social media.

Bilibili popular science videos  /  visual persuasion  /  click behavior  /  ELM