[trevyn]

The core of the definition is subtly wrapped in "main purpose" -- once the attention is attracted and the link is clicked, the clickbait's job is done. So the content of the article will be lower quality and less intellectually satisfying than non-clickbait articles.

For example, if you charted "interest on clicking this link text" vs "satisfaction with article after reading", I think clickbait would be clearly in the high interest vs low satisfaction quadrant.

[narrator]

One problem with that definition is that intellectual satisfaction is disproportionately affected by confirmation bias. For instance, an article entitled "10 reasons why <politician> getting elected means the end of America" might be clickbait to some, but not others depending on what <politician> contains.