We have now crossed a threshold where the average person can be a worldwide-published author of information and entertainment at the click of a mouse. Being ‘published’ means having obtained the means of disseminating work to a larger audience, usually by way of some other company’s network and channels of distribution. What information or entertainment that is being published is being lumped together under the term “content”.
Up to this point in time on planet earth, there has been a wide gulf separating those who published content and those who consumed it. News was gathered and analyzed by professional reporters. Films were created by professional filmmakers at professional film studios and disseminated over airwaves and theaters by the companies who owned the equipment to project and broadcast them. Record companies signed deals with artists, sank money into the their development and sold the finished products at a healthy price which, if it was a hit, covered all the losses of money they lost from the artists who didn’t sell enough records to cover their cost.
As little as 20 years ago, being published was extremely difficult if not impossible for the average amateur, because the production and content companies of newspapers, book publishers, film studios, record companies and television studios took all the risk, and were very careful about messing with proven formulas they had developed for financial success. Those who owned the
means of production bore the risk because the means of production such as printing presses, recording and film studios were very expensive. No longer.
I recently purchased a Canon 7D digital camera that I bought at Best Buy for around $2000. This camera shoots 1080 hi-definition video and is consistently used now in major productions in Hollywood. Therefore, for the most part, I now own my own means of production. But more than that, I also “own” the ability to publish my content via YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and others for free with no financial strings attached to any other entity.
The inevitable consequence that follows this ability for the average person to publish is the average quality of all that is being published declines. We have now been lulled into an “average” appreciation of “average” content. Today new emerging talent is no longer required to “pay their dues” in order to “make it”. Our 15 minutes of fame, as postulated by Andy Warhol in the 1960’s, is now down to less than 30 seconds as we pass video, audio and blog articles back and forth at the speed of light. But this is not a diatribe against amateur content creators and I will not go so far as to say that we have dumbed down our intellectual and aesthetic appreciation or discernment, because that would betray the fact that this democratization of the means of production has given unknown and untested talent an incredible platform upon which to be discovered.
As for marketing, almost every company in the western world now has their own Internet presence of some sort. So now we are seeing the inevitable rise of content strategy and content creation experts. It’s as if all these businesses suddenly woke up and realized they have no clue as to how they are going to fill the space they have created with things that are interesting and relevant to their audiences No one likes to read the same thing over and over, so “content creation” and a content updating strategy has become the latest buzzword and a fertile market for those promising to fill the need for a price.
It’s one thing to create a strategy for good content, but it’s an entirely different thing to create good content itself. Although the means of production have now been evenly distributed, talent has not. The reality is that there are very few talented and skilled creators of anything that people would want to consume on a regular basis. Great content is something you can’t simply pluck off a shelf; besides great talent, it takes skill, insight, perseverance and often years of hard work to be good over the long haul.
Legend has it that Picasso was sitting in a Paris café when an admirer approached and asked if he would do a quick sketch on her on a paper napkin. Picasso politely agreed, swiftly executed the work, and handed back the napkin. The admirer asked him how much should she pay. Picasso replied, “five thousand dollars.” The admirer gasped, “But sir, it only took you a few seconds!” Picasso replied, “No madam, it took me my entire life.”
