Everything on the internet is an exchange
All the content we consume comes at a price. Is it worth it?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about just how much I use gadgets. I’m on my laptop pretty much the whole day. And when I’m not on my laptop, I’m on my smartphone. I’m pretty much a screen junkie, always hooked on the very thing that feeds my addiction.
I’m not alone, either. Apparently, millennials spend an average of 185 minutes every day online via mobile. More than 3 hours. Out of only 24 in a day. And that’s just on mobile.
When I’m on these gadgets I consume A LOT of content. I’m pretty much on social media every hour or so, and I read a ton of blogs. (I don’t get YouTube though, sorry.)
While thinking about this and learning about digital marketing, I realized a fundamental truth about the internet: everything on the internet is an exchange. In exchange for the great content you consume, you give away your money or time.
I probably don’t need to tell you about content marketing or how brands use blogs, videos, and other kinds of content to get you to buy something. And you’re probably familiar with influencer marketing, where users with thousands of followers promote a product to their followers like you.
But there are other kinds of marketing subtly disguised. Take affiliate marketing, for example.
If you’ve ever read a blog teaching you how to start a Wordpress blog, you’ll probably come across a recommendation and link to try out Bluehost. Most, if not all, the popular blogs I’ve come across do this. It’s rare that I’ve come across a blog that recommended something else.
The simple reason why is that these bloggers make $65 every time someone new signs up for it. Bloggers mostly choose to become affiliates for Bluehost instead of other hosting companies because it’s cheap, and not necessarily because it’s high quality. The price of Bluehost makes it easier to convert more users to buy, buy, buy.
Bluehost certainly isn’t bad, but it’s not the best, either. So what’s really happening is all these popular blogs recommend Bluehost, which makes most people looking to start a blog try out Bluehost. But they’re not really getting the best blogging experience they can.
All because of $65 per signup, which can amount to a lot.
And it’s not just your money either.
Sometimes, really, the goal of content is all about you giving your attention to something, and maybe act on it. Who can forget the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? Or even that Kony video?
And so everything you consume on the Internet is created with the intent for you to give something back. Literally, everything.
And that’s probably for the best — creating great content is NOT free. Even though it’s free to post a Tweet with a clever caption and accompanying GIF, there is a labor cost involved. The creator actually has to spend some time and effort on it, assuming it’s content worth consuming.
But this realization — that all the content we consume requires us to give up something — comes with something to consider: are we consuming the right kind of content?
Since everything we consume wants something from us, we need to be careful about what we give our money and time to, what we let in our minds and hearts. In a way, we already know this.
Now, it’s probably difficult to define what the “right” kind of content to consume is. It depends on the person — your interests, beliefs, and goals. And you can even say it’s healthy to consume the content you don’t like or agree with.
But the point is we need to be actively aware of what kind of content we consume on a daily basis, and evaluate if we should consume it.
Every time we read a new blog or watch a video, we need to constantly ask questions like: Is it adding value? Is it worth my money? Is it worth my time? And perhaps even questions like: Am I perhaps being tricked into something that I could potentially regret? Is this really good content, or is it just popular?
And when I say evaluate every piece of content, I do mean every piece of content.
We need to be careful with how we use the Internet. After all, we all know how powerful words and media can be. If we are consuming the wrong kinds of content, this could be ruining our lives.
Maybe we even need to consume less. But that’s for another day.
