Somewhere, on some Godforsaken social media platform somewhere that bombards me with email updates I don’t trouble myself to read, I wrote a semi-tongue-in-cheek post about hating content.
If you’ve read other posts on my site, you know I don’t really hate content, but I deeply dislike the way the word “content” is commonly applied as it suggests something generic and mass-produced, the antithesis of what good content marketers should create.
In the last two days, I’ve found two interesting items that reinforce my animus. The first is this Content-free post by Tim Bray that condemns the same sausage-grinding content creation I despise. The second is this thread, which unwittingly articulates the hateful consequences (for a writer) of the sausage factory mentality: marketers soliciting “content creators” to write articles for as little as $16 a pop.
The marketer who started the thread is disappointed that she can’t find a suitable freelancer to create a “good quality” 400-word blog post for $30. Really. She said she has had “no luck.” Really? What a shocker…