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Content Is NOT King!

CasiCasi subscriber Posts: 5
edited March 2009 in Marketing
We all know that “content” is one of the most important elements of a successful website. But I recently came across an interesting presentation  that made me rethink the role of content.   It has a quote by Cory Doctorow:  “Content isn’t king… If I sent you to a desert island and gave you the choice of taking your friends or your movies, you’d choose your friends -- if you chose your movies, we’d call you a sociopath. Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about.” 

 

Why have interesting content?   So that people will want to share it with others. To be interesting, you must make people want to connect with each other and not just with you or your product!  In other words, the purpose of “Content” is to foster society.

 

Who are your people?  What is your community? And what do they want to talk about?
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Comments

  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
    Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about. The purpose of Content is to foster society.
     
     
     
     

    I couldn`t disagree more with this post.
     
    Content is still king, because conversation is content. Also, the purpose of content depends entirely on what the content is intended to do. Fostering society is not always the intent. The intent can be a variety of things.
     
    David Jackson

    DavidJackson3/10/2009 9:39 AM
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  • tigerlilymediatigerlilymedia subscriber Posts: 0
    It`s a bit of a chicken and egg argument. If, as Mr. Jackson notes, the conversation is content, where does the conversation start? There must be some topic out there to inspire people to talk.  And, yes, after that, the conversation can become content insofar as it generates new ideas.
     
    Is the intention of content to foster society? Not always. Some people just feel passionate about a topic and want to vent without necessarily getting a response. Some put content out there (most of it bad or too much of a hard sell) just to attract visits to their websites. But savvy buisness owners know that sparking conversation with their customers -whether or not the talk goes on between two people or twenty - is the key to success in online marketing, and in building a reputation as a progressive business that wants sincere engagement with its customers.
     
    If conversation is the goal, it has to start with content. All self-interest aside, I guess that means content is still king.
     
    tigerlilymedia3/10/2009 10:32 AM
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  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
    Is the intention of content to foster society? Not always. Some people just feel passionate about a topic and want to vent without necessarily getting a repsonse.
     If conversation is the goal, it has to start with content. I guess that means content is still king.    Absolutely, positively, 100% correct!  David Jackson 
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  • CasiCasi subscriber Posts: 5
    Thanks for the comments. I doubt that there is anything "Absolutely, positively, 100%..." about this topic (or on ANY topic for that matter).  For example, here is an interesting article on the difficulties in separating (and measuring) content vs. community... http://www.newcommreview.com/?p=1179
    Casi3/9/2009 4:22 PM
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  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
    I doubt that there is anything "Absolutely, positively, 100%..." about this topic (or on ANY topic for that matter). 
     
     
     
     
    I never said your topic was "absolutely, positively, 100% correct." It`s not. I was referring to Tigerlily`s response which was right on the money in my opinion.
     
    David Jackson
    DavidJackson3/9/2009 6:55 PM
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  • CasiCasi subscriber Posts: 5

    Allow me to relate a personal experience:  the business that my wife and I started grew out of a social network.  The concept was bourn from countless posts in a forum of a popular magazine.  Many of the members of that forum eventually became our customers.

     

    Later, as we developed our product lines, it was these very people that we had in mind.  What would they want? What do they need?  In other words, our “content” is directly related to a community of people.  If they learn something new (for example – an ingredient that does X or Y) we may incorporate it into a product.  If they talk about the price of a competitor’s line, we observe and modify if necessary.

     

    The approach is not unique to online businesses.  I have a background in architecture and this reminds me very much of the dynamic that takes place between the client and the designer.  The client doesn’t just say to the architect “Give me what you have.” It’s a complex exchange that results in a building (hopefully).

     

    Obviously, the concept is not black and white and it is impossible to make any definitive statements BUT it is possible to go beyond the “Top 5 ways to…  anything” method of  thinking.

    Casi3/10/2009 10:27 AM
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  • tigerlilymediatigerlilymedia subscriber Posts: 0
    It`s been great to be involved in this conversation - really got me thinking. It`s also interesting to note that we would not have been able to have this chat if we hadn`t had a provocative bit of content to talk about in the first place.  
     
     
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  • HanysmHanysm subscriber Posts: 0
    King or not is relative to the motive of the communicator. Some just want to communicate regardless, and some wants to communicate to learn, influence or otherwise. So some are data-driven and to gossip and some for goal driven and dialogue about an issue. You see it on the internet; we have something like twitter for gossip and newsgroups for topics and both are online communities.
    I guess if the question is which is beneficial I would say content is the king.
    If the question is which is more appealing to teens say, I would say content is not the King.
    If the question is which is common, I would say the both..
     The Kingdom of no content is new and has some shine to it so wait for the next wave, IMHO, it will be getting paid by sites for either providing content or subscribing to a gossip …
    Hany~
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  • greggaskillgreggaskill subscriber Posts: 5
    Let`s think for a moment about what pays the bills. Content or Conversion? Since all businesses profit and non, must pay bills - my vote is for Conversion. There are many ways to get traffic without content, or less emphasis on content, and from that traffic Conversion. In building organic traffic however, content will most definitely influence the Search Engines to your favor - so long as it is relevant content! And content builds trust with your audience which helps Conversion.
    This point is very important because in all the hype about SEO, people forget that improving conversion is far more powerful and involves much more than just building traffic.
    Greg Gaskill
    President
    Mr-SEO.com
    www.mr-seo.com/bloggreggaskill3/10/2009 12:51 PM
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  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
    Let`s think for a moment about what pays the bills. Content or Conversion? My vote is for Conversion.
     
     
     
    I disagree. There can be no conversion without some content. In addition, in most cases, if you improve your content, you can improve your conversion. So, no matter how you cut the cake, content is still king!
     
    David Jackson
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  • HanysmHanysm subscriber Posts: 0
    Think this exact exchange of posts...
    Is it content that is driving us or is it the gossip?
    For me it is both ;o)
    Hany~
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  • CasiCasi subscriber Posts: 5
    There really isn`t a power struggle between "content" and "community", as the title of this thread may imply. The point is to think about the role and relationship of the two.
     
    Here is a case study:  I briefly mentioned a couple of posts ago that the business I started with my wife grew out of a popular forum.   One of the members of that forum is a blogger and she had a great idea to do a "giveaway" for her community using our products.   I love the responses she has received so far. They are very enthusiastic.  
     
    You can argue that this would not be possible without good content but, the content already existed regardless of whether anyone saw it or not it.  It`s the exposure that makes the difference and in this case, it is the result of a community.
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  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
    Is it content that is driving us or is it the gossip?
     
     
     
    That`s a losing argument, because it took content to create this topic. And it takes content to continue the exchanges.
     
    Ergo...content is king!
     
    David Jackson
    DavidJackson3/10/2009 1:46 PM
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  • HanysmHanysm subscriber Posts: 0
    <<..That`s a losing argument, because it took content to create this topic.>
    ...and it also toke willing or committed posters to some sort of gossip to reply to you.. 
    Hany~
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  • DavidJacksonDavidJackson subscriber Posts: 143 Silver Level Member
    ...and it also toke willing or committed posters to some sort of gossip to reply to you.. 
     
     
     
    I can tell that english isn`t your first language. So, I`m going to try to explain this to you as politely as I can.
     
    We`re not gossiping. We`re having a conversation. There`s a huge difference.
     
    David Jackson
     
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