GITweekly

We’re on our way back. Promise. Seriously peoples.

After some unseen, iceberg-like, irritating delays – We’re back and writing for GITweekly.com.

Expect some exhilarating content in the coming days.

Cheers.

DW

@DaveyWhale

By the way – if you feel like you could contribute to the content stocks of the site just drop us a line.

Cheers again.

With our ever increasing appetite for information on the internet – where is this new content going to come from?

Traditional sources such as newspapers and magazines are struggling to find a foothold in “new media” and this has left the industry bleeding and divided. The Murdoch factions are looking to a paid subscription model – spearheaded by application based consumption on Apple’s iPad. Other groups are looking towards advertising to pay the salaries of their contributors. But there is an emerging force in content – the “Content Farmers”.

So here’s my declaration of interest. The taking of sides. I dislike the idea of content farming as it stands today (as I’ve exclaimed before). I barrack for the romance of the traditional sources. The fair days work for a fair days wage. The content farmers don’t see it this way and the newspapers can’t hope to compete in the long term without a change in the consumers mindset – free and cheap ain’t so good.

Companies like the newly aquired (by Yahoo!) Associated Content or Demand Media set their sights on filling niche topics (and mainstream news) with their content. This content is sold to other sites who gain eyeballs and advertising revenue from search engines while proclaiming to be definitive resources on that niche topic. The problem with this approach is that the quality of the work is often substandard.

This is all well and good but the ability of these large companies to “game” search engines and, through search engine optimisation, have their content appear on the front page of Bing and Google‘s search returns means this: the quality product created by knowledgable bloggers or trained writers and journalists ends up displaced from the front page and is only reached by diligent searchers. In a nutshell – Google ends up promoting poor content (this is a major challenge for Google – gauging good content from bad). So you, dear reader, don’t get to see the quality information that you’re seeking and the sites that employ writers and journalists at industry rates suffer.

Speaking of industry rates – a writer in Australia might expect to earn in the vicinity of $0.50 to $1.00 per word. This means that a quality article produced by a writer would cost the newspaper between $200 and $400 dollars. On the other hand the content farmers pit their flocks against one another. The flock essentially – due to sheer volumes of willing participants – gives their content away for nix. They may get a by-line and, according to Associated Content‘s earning money section, between $2 and $15 for their efforts. On top of this they can earn some article performance bonuses of  $1.50 for every 1000 clicks. Comparing the pair, the journalist may spend days researching and interviewing for their article. They then write it and submit their finished product to their editor. If the editor likes the effort it then can get some sub-editing before the final product is published. The content farmed article just can’t have that kind of “magnifying glass” attention. Attesting to my outrageous statement is the fact that, according to Associated Content’s own figures, they’ve accrued a library of over 2,000,000 articles over the last 5 years. This equates to 1095 articles checking into their library every day. They must have some amazing editorial power going on if they could maintain the standards set by traditional media.

So what can the newspapers and other traditional media outlets do?

Will they have to follow the model set by these content farmers?

If all of our content and news is created under the “$10 model” what happens when the cost of writing a particular article exceeds the paltry fee paid by the content company?

Would this lead to news not being reported?

The implications of this are truly unfathomable.

And lastly I’ll leave you with two thoughts:

What is the future of the allied industries? Universities and other training organisations whose job it is to create the skilled writers and journalists of tomorrow.

And what happens to the standards of news reporting and content creation. Will it be left in the hands of half-wits with too much time on their hands and a misguided belief that they are the next Shakespeare?

Take a peek at these links to learn more:

MEAA – Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (AUS).

Matt Cutts – Head of Google’s Webspam Team.

NWU -National Writers Union (US).

NUJ – National Union of Journalists (UK)