Why Create It?

September 30, 2010
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This morning I saw a post from Amplify which along with many other sites encourages conversation around content that is already created. The small time blogger, unless they have a fan base, pretty much is talking to the hand at times. This post I’m referring too was called Most People Have Nothing to Say - and that was based on a Forrester research piece.

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With that being said, people still try to build something from nothing and create more content upon original content. Like a comedian who is looking for material in every day life. While those that create original content seem to be in a niche category these days, but do rather well as long as they address the needs of their readers. Which ultimately means you have to spend more time fixing your blog and looking for new content creators.

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Why have people dropped off from blogging? Well I did an experiment earlier this summer to see how much traffic I could drive between all my different blog properties. I basically regurgitated content about making money online, driving traffic, photoshop, graphics editors like GIMP, etc… Your basic high traffic type of content it seems. Traffic did really well, and actually finally got me over the hump of receiving a Google Ads money minimum.

Was it actually creating content? Not really. It was just a step below what I termed above as a comedian looking for material in real life. Only was way below that, because I really had nothing to say about the information I found. Sure it drove a ton of traffic and may have driven more, but is it any fun? Well I guess if you dive deep into it, like one of the people I know from Oz, sure you can make a living doing content optimization or as it’s better known SEO, SEM, etc.

Where is all the real content? Unfortunately for the naysayers, it’s on the social channels. As you all saw earlier this month, I set up a paper.li and twittertim.es page. You are going to read far more interesting content at either of those pages than I can crank out on a daily basis. Pretty much if you think about it, even one of the long time blogs who tried to always do the honorable and correct thing, CenterNetworks, is soon dropping away and selling.

Twitter, Facebook, and OneTrueFan are the benefits of the lack of original user created content. The sites that benefit from all of this are the main content churning machines like AOL/Techcrunch (my guess is ~$30MM + Incentives/Stock), VentureBeat, RWW, and your bigger niche sites like Inside Facebook, ValleyWag (Gawker), etc. Sites like OTF are going to win in the end since people will continue to surf even if there is no original content created.

As long as there is data out there for people to examine or think about, whether or not people have something to say will be irrelevant to the number of people accessing online entrance points. Data is the business model for many startups.

As long as mobile continues to grow hardware and software proportionate, there will be no need for people to say anything. Mobile analytics is another business model being adopted by startups. Won’t matter what people say, the money churning machines will continue on forward.

Technically Speaking, I have something to say all the time, most times these days, I just need to find the time to say it. I just said it, so if you have anything to say why not leave a constructive comment?

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  • http://mistrtim.amplify.com Mistrtim

    That’s the rub isn’t it? With so much content on the web, and so many great ideas already discussed, it really takes a lot of time and work to develop a new concept, or bring forward a new perspective on an old idea.
    As you’ve stated time is something in short supply.
    I’m talking to many bloggers who are tired of working to produce good content only to have so few people read and participate. It is like talking to the “hand”.. and many are starting to think of moving on.
    Google Instant has changed the landscape too, creating a drop in traffic to many blogs.
    Something I’ve noticed on other communities is that actual comments are hard to elicit unless you’ve stated something controversial. It seems many people are willing to express their opinion, but fewer are willing to add something intelligent ;-) That’s just too scary for some.. as it opens them up to criticism.

  • http://rexduffdixon.com/ RexDixon

    Thanks for leaving the long comment. I agree though, the landscape has changed to the point where unless you already have a blog with a ton of traction, it’s hard to build interaction. I do like Amplify and the other services, but to get a comment – you do have to be controversial it seems. A Mud Slinger so to speak.