In defense of clickbait

[Commentary] While I don't think we're likely to see the New York Times lead with "15 wacky solutions to the debt ceiling you just won't believe" or The Guardian tweet out a link to "8 things the NSA knows about your last relationship", I'm also unconvinced that link baiting is all that bad.

We live in a media environment where online eyeballs, in sufficient quantities, are still more valuable than paid subscribers. In a competitive environment where the number of media sources has proliferated, outlets have to do everything they can to get readers. It's not enough to announce the news -- media outlets need to get the clicks, or from the perspective of advertisers they've done nothing. Clickbaiting is, at its core, about presenting a piece of content in the way that the media outlet thinks will maximize the number of people who see it. And to that end, it can be a really effective way to get the message across -- and also lead readers to more worthy content.