Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Content Sharing: The Online Popularity Contest

We spend a lot of effort preaching the importance of developing, publishing, and sharing quality content as part of an effective internet marketing campaign. However, I've noticed that, to a large extent, the chances of your content getting shared are often more tied to who does the sharing as opposed to what is being shared. Is online content sharing a popularity contest? To some extent, the answer is yes.

Think about it. Aren't you more likely to share, discuss, and engage with the people you "know" online? Of course your are. So am I. But sometimes I find that I'm sharing something that's "okay" at best just because I have an online relationship with the person.

From this observation, there seem to be two conclusions. First, I need to find ways to get more people to "know" me online. This will increase the likelihood and frequency with which my content is shared. Second, I need to be a more selective consumer of web content. The internet is a gigantic marketplace of ideas. However, in order for the market to work to reward quality content, it's up to us as web content consumers to make better choices about who and what we consume and share online.

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