April 24, 2006

More Content 2.0

OK, so I’ve been bitten by this Content 2.0 thing. In fact I think I’m going to start a whole new category for blog posts on the subject. It might not seem like it has anything to do with LearnOutLoud but I beg to differ.

It has everything to do with how we’ll consume content/media in the future.

The graph above is the Alexa traffic chart for YouTube. If you haven’t been already you really owe it to yourself to go. In less than a year and with virtually no marketing YouTube has grown to one of the Top 50 sites on the Net. By year’s end I’m pretty sure it will be one of the Top 10. I think the reason for this is that it pretty much embodies what Content 2.0 is all about. What are those elements?

1. Brevity – Shorter content is perfect for our ADD-ish culture. While I’m definitely not saying that the three-hour epic movie is going away anytime soon I do think you’ll see a trend to shorter and shorter forms on content in coming years. And one of the main reasons for that is…

2. Portable – A cool thing about YouTube is that I can watch stuff on YouTube or I can post it on my blog. With a little doing I can even download the content. Content 1.0 resides in a certain place (e.g., your television). Content 2.0 is a nomad and shows up wherever you want it to.

3. Personal – One of the neat things about Content 2.0 is that is remarkably personal. It’s not the super-polished stuff you see coming out of television networks and movie studios. It’s more rough. It’s raw like AskANinja
or the Gillmor Gang. It’s Blair Witch…not Blair Witch 2. Clerks vs. Clerks 2. In fact, often times the more money you throw at it the worse it gets.

4. Efficient – Look, we’re all busy. I’d love to sit down and read all of the great books ever written and watch all the movies and the “cool” TV shows. But I don’t have time. Very few of us do. So if you can give me 90% of the benefit and enjoyment of the full-length content in a condensed version I will be very appreciative. That was sort of my point in yesterday’s post. If your 350 page book can be condensed down to a cool 50 pages then I can read 7 different books in the time it would have taken me to read your book.

Again, I’m not talking about Cliff Notes or executive summaries. I’m talking about a new form of content that is concise, personal, relevant and highly entertaining. A form of content that respects my time and at the same time appeals to my desire to gain a richer understanding of the world and learn the stuff I need to to improve my life and reach my goals.

That’s what Content 2.0 is all about. YouTube gets it. Some podcasters get it (most don’t). It’ll be interesting to see who else gets it in the coming months and years.