Does Anyone Get And/Or Give Links Anymore?

Nothing revelatory here, but as I was coaching a client on how to generate links, the whole question of who in fact is going to give a s#%t enough to link to them from their site, even if the content is great, hit me like the Lord’s Bright Shining Light on my pitiful non-believer’s forehead:

Assumption 1:
Those of us in the search marketing biz have historically represented one of the largest suppliers of links to Google’s link graph. Mommy bloggers probably kick our ass though.

Assumption 2:
As more and more of the action heads over to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. most of our link-sharing is happening over on those platforms. I’ve got to believe the number of new links Google is discovering has dramatically declined as Facebook sucked in all of the sharing over the past few years. Hence Der Fuhrer’s reaction to Google Search Plus Your World.

So does this mean the value of a link from a regular old website is worth more or less? And who are these freaks who are still linking from their websites?