Good post on getting to the crux of the matter. You pin it down when you say "link worthy content", which is another way of saying "content that people like so much they link to it".

This is all about language. Instead of calling it "link worthy content", it's now called linkbait.

Language is organic, it grows and mutates with use.

For example, how many people call Frankenstein the monster, rather than the creator, or when American tourists get "Big Ben" in London wrong. It's the bell which is called Big Ben, the structure that it is in is actually called The Clock Tower.

But the language has mutated and when you say Big Ben now, people think of something that isn't actually what was originally intended.

Just like Linkbait is innacurate and under forensic examiantion falls apart, but because of common usage has entered into our concious as a term.

Phew, I really didn't mean to go on so.

Great blog btw, I just subscribed.