It's everywhere, the clickbait

Maybe that’s the best definition then, of clickbait: Did this post need to exist, or did you just make a thing for the sake of making a thing? In which case, BuzzFeed Does Clickbait. So does pretty much everyone.

Smith says that he couldn’t tell you how many page views BuzzFeed gets every month. That’s amazing to me, but the point behind the idea isn’t. Among cynical readers given to labeling everything clickbait, there seems to be an assumption that editors and writers live and die by the number of clicks they generate. That’s rarely true, and only less so as sites move away from banner ads and find better ways of monetizing based on the quality of content rather than the quantity of people exposed. That bodes well for the readers who prefer only-publish-what-we-really-love kinds of sites to high-output hit-or-miss content mills. Some call it the Slow Web movement, or simply the dream.

Taking time to create awesome work, only writing when you have something important (or otherwise fabulous) to say, is what writers and editors want, too. Carnival barkers aren’t happy when they look in the mirror. That’s why they shout and dress in those pinstripe suits and funny hats, to hide the sadness.