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February 16, 2011

Content creators Distributors hype generators and Absorbers

Filed under: Observations — Tyler @ 12:12 am
distributor

distributor

In the ever-expanding cosmos of online content, four distinct classes of interactors have emerged. Yet unlike classes of affluence that we are familiar with, these classes are much more like gradients of grey. One may wear a hat that is a unique blend of multiple classes simultaneously. This article will help interactors with online content to evaluate his or her current place in the inter-ethers.

There are four primary classes of online content interactors. The first is the most obvious: the Content Creator. Whenever someone writes a joke or an essay, a song or a sonnet, that is intended to be shared online…that person is creating content. This content can either be intended to be shared freely, like a photographer who takes a picture and then shares it in the Wikipedia image commons as public domain. Or it can someone who intends to sell a song for profit online via Soundcloud or Beatport. The financial aspect does not change the fact that content is content. We will discuss content creators in more detail later in this article.

Content distributors are a class of interactors that make content that has been made by content creators easily accessible. They can either charge for their services or else distribute content for free. Some examples of content distributors would be YouTube for distributing video content. Bandcamp distributes audio content. Overidon.com distributes articles and other information. Wikipedia distributes massive amounts of knowledge via its website in several languages.

The main difference between a Content Creator and a Distributor is that the Content Creator makes things for interactors to experience and a distributor makes sure it gets to those interactors.

Another important class of interactor is the Hype Generators. These people are extremely important for any successful meme to enter into the greater internet cosmological consciousness. A person who is a Hype Generator sees or hears or reads content that was created by a Content Creator and then shared by a Distributor. Then perhaps even after just glancing at something very quickly they share the link to it on their Facebook. Or else they tweet about it. Or they send a txt about some cool music video they saw to a friend. Or else they chatted about a great niche blog on AIM.

Hype Generators are different from Distributors because they don’t actually host the content. Hype Generators primarily spread the word about something by either talking loosely about a subject or phenomenon, or else by directly linking or embedding content hosted by a Distributor.

Another important difference is that Distributors of content can charge for their service or for viewing content. Or in many cases the Distributor simply gets advertising revenue related to their sharing of content on their respective websites. This is different from a hype generator because hype generators primarily do not profit from sharing links and ideas. The main thing that hype generators get is increased attention, respect and virtual “Street Cred.”

Now there are many websites that act as a forum for both distribution of content and acting as Hype Generators. This is an important thing to bring up because these classes of interactors are not black and white. Most people are a mixture of all 4 classes…with some extra emphasis in an area. There is rarely two interactors in the entire internet that are exactly alike.

A Hype Generator is extremely important when a piece of content is about to get “Viral.” It is necessary for people to share and talk about the content autonomously and without prodding or persuasion. The content itself must warrant the buzz.

Interestingly enough, there are some people who actually get paid a salary to be Hype Generators. Although their title is usually something completely different. But they end up doing almost exactly what was discussed above.

The fourth and final class of interactors is the Absorber. Absorbers are without a doubt the most important part of the entire online content process. For if there is no one to listen to, and appreciate, or read the work of the Content Creator. Then there truly was no need to publish that material on the Internet anyway. It could have stayed on a LAN and had the same effect.

Technically, all of the above mentioned classes of Content Creators, Distributors, and Hype Generators are also Absorbers.

An Absorber is someone that may see a link that was posted by a friend on Facebook for a music video. And then after reading the friend’s description that says, “This song makes me think of goat cheese for some reason…” the Absorber thinks to him or herself, “Hey! I want to think of goat cheese too! I’m goona click this right now!” (*individual results may vary)

The information got passed from the Hype Generator to the Absorber. And now the Absorber is viewing the music video that was made by a Content Creator. And the Absorber is using the Distributor’s website and bandwidth and is looking or clicking on the Distributor’s ads or is at least considering viewing the Distributor’s other available content.

Let’s go into more detail and engage in a case study.

His name is Jonathan Campos and currently his middle name is Ferret. Jonathan is a blend of all four classes of content interactors. He writes original jokes, music and does Photoshop art (usually of himself) and all of which are generally either amusing, hilarious, rousing or all of the above. So that makes him a Content Creator. He also sells his music via Bandcamp and other mediums. So even though he doesn’t technically own Bandcamp, he gets a percentage of the profits of the sales from his bandcamp page so that means he definitely is at least partially a Distributor of his content.

But the main area that Jonathan Campos really is extremely prolific is in his role as a Hype Generator. Jonathan sends out multiple tweets and facebook status update and links with often radically entertaining and or amuzing links and original anecdotes. So much is the case, that it is rare when Jonathan Campos speaks, and many do not comment, respond, hit the like button, or else insult the man. His personality and breadth of influence among his friends and fans stimulates conversation and usually ridiculous introspection and he is a must have for anyone who appreciates uncomfortably poignant and politically incorrect humor.

Yet at the same time there is a side of him that adds Hype Generation to more serious issues like economic issues of unemployment or social issues. So his character has depth and intrigue that makes Absorbers like myself want to read each status update without fail, oftentimes scrolling through previous pages in order to hear something good.

And it is obvious that Jonthan Campos must be at least absorbing some of the content that he is Hype Generating because so much of this information is funny. He isn’t just spitting out links at random. There must be some sort of preview process that happens here.

So what is going on is that you can probably see by now that all four of the content interactor classes are symbiotic and complimentary. If your strong point is being prolific and created a tremendous amount of content, then do it. Just try and make friends with good Distributors and Hype Generators that will be able to share your content with a large or at least focused group of Absorbers.

If you love Absorbing great information and having fun conversations at parties, then having a friend like Jonathan Campos would make a lot of sense. Because he is going to be giving you ideas and thinks to mentally munch on that may send your clicks in a different direction than your standard YouTube auto-suggestions.

The key to understand is that even though this online content system appears to be a competition, it really isn’t. There are so many potential Absorbers out there, that it is a much better strategy to make real relationships with Distributors, Hype Generators, Content Creators and other Absorbers on as large of a scale as you can handle safety wise and mental spam bombardment wise.

One thing that I’ve noticed is that there is no cookie cutter model for success. Some Hype Generators are super positive. Others are negative. And there is no real way to tell what people like more. I guess you just need to choose a voice that is tolerable for YOU most of all. Because if you get sick of your own comments then it is pretty likely that so will your friends.

The fun part about these classes of interactors is that one can change at any time. A person who is a huge Hype Generator may find that he or she has the perfect fan base for promoting a new piece of content. Or else someone who is a consistent Content Creator may have attained the respect of Hype Generators which may after a long or short period of time propel that Content Creator into the limelight and attract the attention of a powerful Distributor.

This entire Internet Content cosmos is changing and growing so the rules can change at any time. But these classes may help people articulate their online content interactions.

-Tyler

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February 15, 2011

First overidon post via iPhone

Filed under: Overidon News — Tyler @ 12:05 pm

This is our first overidon.com post via iPhone 4. I am extremely impressed and excited about the easy functionality of wordpress with the touch based interface.

I did not think this was even going to be a possibility when I got the phone. I thought that the wordpress engine would be too demanding for safari on 3G non wi-fi. But this is a very accessible interface and I am having zero lag.

The book store sold me an old hardcover book on quantitative analysis from the 1960’s for $1.50 so I’m happy about that. I also splurged and got a book on ethics softcover for the same price.

Being able to write on the go is going to be a huge asset so I need to give my parents a big thank you and smooches for getting the whole family these gadgets.

Zooming in and out is super easy and interacting with all the functions of the blog is intuitive. I look forward to checking out the meta tagging process.

-Tyler

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Speaking of things that rule

Filed under: Music-Reviews — Tyler @ 12:28 am
It's a good day to die

It's a good day to die (extended mix)

Courage…Duty…Honor!

I’m listening to this till my ears bleed. I haven’t seen the 3rd movie but I hope it is better than the 2nd one.

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February 14, 2011

Hitting Creative Goals and Small Victories

Filed under: Tyler's Mind — Tyler @ 11:33 pm
spaceship

Big Goals

The creative world is similar to International Relations. There are limited resources in International Relations, either resources of energy, wealth, or human beings. In the creative world, there is a finite number of potential paying publishers, agents, or patrons. The International System is generally viewed as not having any central controlling arm, overseeing the entire operation. It is a self-help system. Making progress in Creativity is similar in that regard. All though one may find alliances with groups of friends, peers, or colleagues, generally, one’s success is directly dependent on one’s own effort and guile. And in both situations confidence is key for success in these systems. Anyone can have confidence, and there is no shortage of paper tigers in the world or in the creative environment of either writing or music. But there is something to actually be said about the confidence of Americans after the Revolutionary War. That confidence to engage in Manifest Destiny was based on an actual victory against a powerful adversary. And likewise, as creative people, we need small victories in order to build confidence that is based on real life results in our respective fields.

If one is waiting to get published and get a massively lucrative book deal in order to be confident then there is a serious problem. We need to be confident first, and then let that voice become self evident through the work itself. And this is only accomplished by having a creative goal in one’s mind before creating something, and then hitting that goal when the creative work is shared.

When writing stories or music there is one thing that is constant: The need for a good hook.

We need to make the reader or listener want to complete the journey, and not put it down. And the only way to do that, is to literally fight for every second and sentence…especially in the beginning.

But what if the story or song doesn’t get good until 10 pages or seconds? Or what if we’ve been grinding on the same intro for weeks and things just aren’t flowing right. Frustration is setting in like frozen molasses and we’re stuck.

This is the perfect time to give yourself some self-inflicted homework and sharpen the tools and achieve a small victory. Everyone wants to write the next epic or musical masterpiece. But sometimes honing in on a specific musical style that is targeted for a niche audience, and then pitching that very song to a member of that demographic can yield the exact type of feedback that one needs.

If you can’t write a birthday card that makes the reader feel good then you are missing something.

One thing to consider is the artistic/commercial conundrum. A lot of people get stuck on this. Here’s the concept: I’m an artist. So I create what I want. I don’t care what other people think. If I sold my work or got recognition in professional circles, I would be selling out or be going, “main stream.”

Have you heard this anywhere before? This type of attitude is extremely limiting and doesn’t really work in today’s highly competitive environment. There are simply too many hobbyists who are willing to distribute their work for free. This over-saturation of almost every creative market requires a creative person to truly polish his or her work in order to have it stand out.

So let’s get some small victories under our belts. There are two types of small victories in the creative field. There are first the obvious victories where we get a story published, even in a small zine or school journal. This goes for music also, where we can get a lot of listens and feedback on a track, or maybe even sell a single here or there.

Then there are the less obvious but nevertheless important victories of self. Where we write something that is so polished that after we write it, it feels good. After reading it, one may think, “I get this.” Or maybe the intent is to disturb or invigorate, the key is creating something and feeling like we are improving in our skills rather than spinning wheels or backsliding.

Musically this can be achieved by creating something and then listening to it for pleasure. Hey, that’s legit. If you like what you’re cooking that’s the first step in putting it on someone else’s plate.

After numerous smaller victories. A vote of confidence from a friend here. Someone ASKING to read your writing there. A friend BEGGING to hear something new from over there. These victories, if based on honest feedback should reinforce your already secure outlook on your own skills. And the end result is confidence for tackling even bigger goals.

A bigger could could be writing a piece that is slightly longer. Or developing a short piece that has both a tight hook as well as a compelling theme or moral message. Musically you can work on a piece that has structure of number of layers that may have seemed daunting before. Or perhaps the opposite happens and you decide to say more melodically and rhythmically by using less instruments and a more minimalistic approach, yet at the same time conveying a greater emotional connection with the listener.

Just like last time, see if these goals are hit and if so, chalk them up as a victory to add to your hat. Eventually you will become prolific and creation will become second nature. And larger goals of high quality finished products will no longer seem lofty to yourself, or your peers.

As the United States stands in an uncertain world, maybe applying some of these concepts might have some value. There are big problems that are receiving big rhetoric and attention. But there definitely are certain issues that are not so big. And if these topics either dealing with efficiency, productivity, or solidarity were tackled on a more piecemeal and humble level, perhaps we would see greater confidence and ingenuity when approaching larger media-attention-getting issues.

-Tyler

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