Your content is valueless

This seems like pretty much a clickbait title but it isn't intended to be so. Having said that, there might be value in some content but rarely as much as people will assume, especially in the kind of disposable content many create.

Some content has longevity on their side to continually add to the value they have delivered. Try to imagine how much value (and all the forms) the Lord of the Rings trilogy has added to the world since it's published release in 1954 and compare it to a news article on some thing a ridiculous president has done and see which one you think holds more value over time.

But, we don't tend to live across time like that and we are increasingly becoming more consumptive of content where speed and disposability is the main selling point. No one had to think too much before the next installment of ridiculous but compelling.

So if your content doesn't have value, what does?

It is common to think about how a company like Facebook sells data and it is very convenient to believe that our data has value and we should be entitled to some of the value earned. This is only part of the story though isn't it?

While our privacy is eroded and we can be looked at from an increasingly granular viewpoint, it is easy to see how this can be used to market to us, sell to us, influence our decisions through advertising. This is a limited view again is it not?

What has value, why did Facebook pay 19 billion for WhatsApp? Yes, it was to get hold of a large number of users, yes it was to extract their data and yes, it was to influence them but, it is deeper than that.

What they paid for was access, not just to the data but what that data represents; relationships. What they paid all that money for was a bird's eye view of global communities and how information flows through them and as they analyse the mounting data, they improve their ability to push information through targeted groups, they know what will go viral, they know what will polarize, they know what will influence, they know what will spread and it is not they who spread it, it is us.

What they bought was a distribution list that with very little interaction, can be leveraged to disseminate all kinds of targeted messaging for all kinds of purposes. Marketing the latest game or convincing voters to stay home is the same process with different messages transmitted.

Your content is valueless in this messaging but your social network, the relationships of your life, the ones who can be influenced by the content you share, that has value. An immense amount of value as it hacks the word of mouth wiring we rely on socially to influence our opinions and decisions from within our own communities, the people we trust.

Who are we trusting when who we trust is sharing the information of others from often unknown and untraceable sources? How many degrees of separation from mouth to ear or eye?

In my opinion, this is where Blockchain technology can have a very strong position as it doesn't just track the source, it tracks the relationships between the handoff points. People say that communication is key to s good relationship and companies like Facebook have taken the lesson to heart. They do not care about people, they care about the communication between people. Luckily, Nokia trailblazed the way and did a fantastic job of Connecting people.

These channels of communication between us as the nodes is the grease that keeps their wheels rolling. There is no point for them to spend anytime or money on anyone who is a communication island as where is the value?

This is part of the problem with most people believing that what they create and deliver had value as it is valueless as a product unless it is communicated to someone who holds value. It is about relationships, to get the ears of the king, to directly influence through indirect paths. To manipulate results with low cost and zero accountability.

It is our relationships that hold the value on social media, just as it is our relationships that hold value in the real world. The content has very low utility if unseen, Lord of the Rings would be the same book if Tolkien left it in his attic to waste away unread.

Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter and all the others don't really care what you share, they care about why you share and why you read. Once they have the formula, messaging and an algorithm can be designed to compel us to spread it like a virus. Any topic, any group.

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
Eleanor Roosevelt

What Facebook is doing is sharing ideas by leveraging the minds of the average and small minded. They don't care which ideas they share, that is up to the people who pay them for access to their distribution list and the algorithms that engage us to keep passing them on and influencing those we are connected to.

We have become unknowing spies in our own communities, unwitting disseminators of propaganda and, we do it to the people we say we care about. This is why it is so sticky, we are invested in our social networks, invested in the people and it is very personal. The power of relationship is immense and communication is the key to collaboration. Own the communication channels of a community, own the behaviours of that community.

Is there a solution to this issue? Yes, understanding that it happens and holding oneself accountable for the content one shares, the ideas one is willing to support. And remember, the tracking of information can work both ways and one day, we might see the true sources of influence and, be ashamed that we followed and spread their message.

What I like on Steem is that at least here, there are a lot more ideas talked about than events or people. Steem likely currently suffers from a selection bias, one that will be lost when mainstreaming. Average and small minds are the majority of the standard distribution and, the most easily leveraged in the distribution list.

How valuable is your content again?
How valuable are your relationships?

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]
_{(posted from phone)}