7.3.1 | Blogs

June 13, 2008 | Content vs. Context: Which Rules?

By Mark Ouyang
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At Clickability, we believe that while content is important, it is not everything.   Context is just as important and growing more so each day.  In fact, we believe a tipping point has been reached:  Context has overtaken content’s traditional “kingmaker” role in gaining the reader’s attention, keeping them engaged and getting them to come back for more.

Why is content no longer king? One reason is the sheer volume of content being created today.   In an age where everyone and anyone can be a publisher, content is plentiful.  Its value is getting cheaper by the day.  With free blogging software, the ease of posting videos through YouTube, and ubiquitous cell phones capturing photos and audio recordings, there is no shortage of content to be found on the web.

Instead, the new, bigger challenge is finding the right content.  This is where context comes in.  Without context, the value and importance of a particular piece of content to the reader cannot be determined.   For example, time is one element of context.  Not understanding the timeframe when content is needed can determine whether it is valuable or worthless.  The refrain, “Now, you tell me!” says it all.

Another key component of context is the community.  The meaning of an acronym like ATM will depend on whether it is used in a financial setting (Automated Teller Machine) or network technology one (Asynchronous Transfer Mode).

Perhaps the biggest proof that context is the new king is Google.  Like many people outside the media industry, I didn’t understand what was powering Google’s growth during its early days.  How was a company providing a free web service (search) earning money?  The simple answer is they are providing context.

Using their innovative page ranking system, Google is able to leverage the web’s link structure (the community) to bring the most important and relevant content to you at the peak moment of interest (time).   By locating the content (which is free) and understanding the context,  Google uses its understanding of the situation to earn billions of dollars selling simple text ads to every vendor on the web. 

Just wished I understood this when Google offered their shares initially at $100 per share.

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