9/4/18, 7:26 AM
Continuing on from yesterday, for Content to truly become King what would have to happen? POV or Points of View
Lets begin with what does not need to happen. We do not need to go from a large number of poor quality choices, to an even larger number of poor quality choices. Yes, choice does permit people more options to choose from, but this is not necessarily helpful, unless consumption is your main approach to life. If you want to be discriminating, desire more curated and better edited content, and to be acknowledged more in your interactions, than there are better paths to take.
Historically, some companies succeeded without having much insight about what to offer customers by simply offering them an enormous number of choices and then observing what was purchased. However, this is an incredibly poor use of resources when compared with other companies who simply knew more clearly what to offer, and focused their attention on doing a great job at it.
Wouldn’t you rather be exposed to terrific content, instead of having to spend a lot of time sorting through terrible content? One problem, is ones persons treasure can be another persons poison. Furthermore, what is highly regarded at some points in time, can be completely dismissed during others. Audiences are not static, tastes change and moods change. And what can be offered changes over time as well.
An answer is adaptability and flexibility on the part of all parties involved in an exchange. Pretend you were more interested in an exchange of ideas, than simply consuming ones thrust at you. Okay, yes admittedly this puts you in the minority of society, because it means you have some ideas you want to share, and are able to share.
Is happiness increased more by consumption or by creation? Well, it depends upon who you are and what mood you are in. Do you want to go out to eat or to cook a meal? Do you even know how to cook a meal? The content world is like that as well, some create it, yet most consume it. What if content delivery and consumption, were more like a conversation with give and take, and with adjustment and iteration leading toward a better conversation?
One opinion, is for content to truly become king it has to become increasingly flexible and adaptive. Availability of dramatically increased bandwidth permits this. Just as those with more bandwidth than others, can have greater ability to adapt conversations to achieve mutual benefit.
Would you rather buy a car from a salesperson who seemed to understand and care who you were and what your needs are? Would you rather have a surgeon who was more concerned about your situation, than scheduling their next surgery to make a boat payment or put their kids through college? Everyone prefers to be seen, heard and acknowledged, as these make your life have more meaning when you have an identity and are not an invisible entity just being hit up for money.
Then, why can’t content behave more like a contemplative conversational partner, than a used car salesman? One reason was previously there was not enough bandwidth to permit adaptation.
Let me leave you with one thought for today – what if content permitted you to have and select a point of view? Would this experience be more like an in person interaction where you could choose what to focus your attention upon? Would that be more satisfying?
Can’t you imagine ways to make content act in this way? Would this not permit different business models and create new opportunities? To be continued…