As someone who writes for what I, increasingly inaccurately, refer to as a ‘living’ I understand the temptations of clickbait, but try very hard not to engage in the practice – no matter how ‘Upworthy’ I believe a story may be.
What I find even more disturbing is a recent trend to sensationalize headlines to the point where they not longer reflect the story. I’ve seen examples lately of headlines that in no way reflect the story underneath them, or are even directly contradicted by it and some of the organizations engaging in this practice were once proud, honorable journalistic institutions.
Here’s a great video from Glove and Boots about the total suckage that is clickbait.