Links are for sharing only and even that is primarily for those annoying friends who aren’t on the app you’re using. My girlfriend for example can go hours without ever leaving instagram or tiktok. If the content isn’t natively in there, it doesn’t exist.
And nobody ever clicks links I send them. Have had to start texting (iMessage) screenshots of articles and images or they just get ignored lol
When I publish an article, most readers read it because it lands inside their email app. Short email with link? Nobody clicks that. Long email you can read without leaving gets way more engagement.
Think about it this way: would you have read this comment if I posted it on my site and pasted a link in this textbook instead of typing it out? Would you really?