Content Monster

As I was reading the chapters of "The Art of Social Media" for this week, one topic that the author touched on stuck out for me more than all the rest, partially because he continuously referred back to it as the chapters preceded, and that is the concept of content creation versus content curation. The section I am referring to is found on pages 16 and 17, which is the beginning of Chapter 2 titled “How to Feed the Content Monster.” These concepts are a perfect way to introduce the chapter, mostly because the author gets right to the point and tells you the two exact ways you can feed this “Content Monster”, which is basically discovered new and interesting content to share each week.

I really liked how the author was so upfront and honest about how it can be really difficult to repeatedly go back and try to find new and interesting content that not only the audience is interested in, but also the writer, since there’s no sense in writing about something that doesn’t spark at least somewhat of an interest inside of you. Content creation, as the author put it, is basically exactly what it sounds like: the creation of new material, specifically posts, pictures, or videos. As a writer for both Odyssey and a hobby, I know all too well that this can be a difficult task, and finding inspiration that others will want to read about is hard. But I had never really thought about the second option that the author states in the way he says it: content curation. Basically, it’s searching for material that people have already written about and summarizing it, then sharing it. Not only does it give the writer something relevant to write about and discuss, it also provides the original piece with more publicity and gives the writer more credibility. The author called it a “win-win-win”.

As long as I am in the business of writing and sharing articles, I will always be needing to feed the Content Monster at least once a week. Although it can be a task, this chapter gave me some positive tips on how to satisfy its hunger, especially with the initial two ways to do so as I discussed above. I took a lot out of chapter two (especially from the portion where he listed off several useful websites for blogging with a description of each—that is just so helpful as a blogger!) and I look forward to reading the remainder of the book.