• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Charlie Rogers

  • About Charlie Rogers
  • Posts
  • Contact

Your Digital Content Has A Life of Its Own

In one of the digital media courses I teach, I find that my old media students often balk at one of the axioms of digital content: by publishing something you are essentially releasing it into the wild.

Digital content doesn’t sit still — it travels, interacts with other content and competes for attention far beyond your website.

The concept is familiar to anyone with a smartphone, a tablet, a RSS reader, a ‘read later’ applet, or any other tool that separates the content from its original platform for the convenience of the reader. Shared links, search results, etc. also places your content into competition that you may never intended.

Smart writers, editors and publishers acknowledge this. Some try hard to prevent it, others simply acquiesce, and still others embrace it as both a challenge and an opportunity. In general, digital natives consider this a good thing. Cameron Koczon, from A List Apart, calls it “orbital content.” Anil Dash and Dave Winer are strong advocates for the idea of a personal “news stream.”

However, whenever I teach this concept, objections are raised.

via Anil Dash, Dave Winer and A List Apart.

Filed Under: Digital Journalism, ePublishing

Charlie Rogers Charlie Rogers

Chief content officer, editor-in-chief, managing editor, launch manager, and product strategist on dozens of digital ventures, for companies including NBC, Conde Nast, Time Warner, Martha Stewart and Random House.
Here's my bio...

Get in Touch!

Footer

Twitter: @jrnlsm

  • Just now
  • http://twitter.com/jrnlsm

Popular Sections

  • SEO For Editors
  • Digital Journalism
  • Digital Management
  • Audience Development

Recent Posts

  • Free or Cheap Tools for Learning Web Analytics
  • Why Are Your Web Pages So Fat and Slow?
  • Jon Morrow’s 52 Headline Hacks
  • Transformation Tourism
  • Creating a Social Media Plan: The Basics

Quick Subscribe

Receive an email every time new content goes live.

Thanks!

Copyright © 2023 Charlie Rogers