The word content has always bothered me, even though I recognize its utility as a shorthand across platforms, brands and markets.
It turns out that the gig economy, which is only making up more and more of the work in the global marketplace, loves this word, content. Some of that may have to do with the fact that according to a 2018 survey by Prudential, Sales, Art & Design are the top two contributions that millennials make to the gig economy — and said millennials are most likely to believe that 75% of all available employment in the future will be in the gig economy as independent contractors. This matters because across generations, more and more people are becoming self-employed and contract out their services without the benefits of full-time employment, including retirement, health insurance or any semblance of financial security. Especially in this context, being told that what you create is content instead of positioning it as work that has unique value, work that takes time to create, refine — quality over quantity, in other words — is particularly damaging.
On Friday, March 8th & Sunday, March 10th, I’ll present a few ideas on how creatives can position themselves for greater success in this swiftly changing marketplace that devalues unique work that (regardless of how often you hear people drone on about content) has tremendous value that not just anybody can make, or make well.
Links below for those of you attending South by Southwest Interactive. The sessions will not be videotaped, since I didn’t coordinate that myself, but if you’ll be at SX and you want to create Instagram stories/take photos, etc., I’m into it.
https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP102395
https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP88007
Joshunda Sanders 