Hard Truths About Content for 2018
For publishers who think 2017 has been a difficult year, they won’t like what 2018 has in store for them.
For starters, the giants are coming. Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple are betwixt themselves spending exorbitant amounts of internet money on content production this year; content which they will tacitly promote on their ubiquitous content distribution services. Publishers like Buzzfeed and Vox have already aligned themselves with tech giants in partnership deals, but it’s obvious to everyone that Facebook would rather have the whole cake to eat for themselves.
Second, the distrust is still growing. With 2018 being an election year, and with mass skepticism of institutional journalism still growing in the US and abroad, traditional publishers will have stronger currents of negativity to fight against. Some publishers have started rethinking some things about how to act in this environment, like not having a public editor.
Third, DIY content keeps getting better. Most notably on YouTube but also on other platforms like Facebook, singular users or incorporated users are becoming more industrial in creating substantial content, such as ~20 min documentaries or ~5 min comedy skits. Some of these “creators” are able to produce weekly (or even daily) installments of content, and they are growing loyal fan bases. This is an indication of a shift in media habits for the younger generation, and it’s a shift that publishers will find hard to swallow.
The main problem publishers will face in 2018 is, everybody is making content. Literally everybody, down from your grandparents to your nieces and nephews are content producers in some sense. Anyone with a smartphone is effectually a walking TV station and ticker news service; some people being more productive than others, but everyone having at minimum the ability to publish content…in addition to the remains of the traditional publishing infrastructure, and the giant tech companies mentioned above.
For anyone trying to stay in the business of publishing content, my advice is: You can’t solve a problem without first looking it in the eye. That means recognizing what advantages the traditional model of a publishing business has lost, accepting the overwhelming amount of new media available to every consumer of content, and bluntly re-evaluating the value proposition of your content; or, what makes your work meaningful.
