In the digital age; Content Reigns Supreme! - 1

Content holds sway in todays information age. In fact content is the blood of any form of web or mobile based service. Probably the most defining factor for the success of such services.

Never in history has there been so much demand for instant information.  This has led platforms which promise to provide relevant information thrive. Many examples include Information Portals (Games/Apps stores, News, Jobs, Directories, Reviews), Social Networks, Communities, Forums, News Sites etc

Sources of Content

As mentioned  in my earlier post “CLIF  - A guide to product development “, content could be manually uploaded (news site), user generated (twitter), tapped (rss) or crawled/autogenerated (Google search) etc. The key is to figure out how to generate that useful, relevant and probably structured content.  

Content is big business

Internet giants like Google, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo all started out by trying to help people find information. Google and Yahoo helped people find more relevant information, Facebook helped students find information about each other and Twitter helped people broadcast snippets of information updates.

Day by day these giants seek to expand their content base by building technologies that’ll help people create, access and share various types of content knowing fully well that when they do they’ll keep traffic coming and then monetise that.

What makes content sell

People want their content fast, locally relevant, useful and fresh always. Any content model must meet these user needs or there will be no attachment to such service.

The place of Innovation

You can’t really have innovation regarding content itself. Its out there for you to grab, it could be free or require some fee to acquire but the real innovation lies in the “how” of gathering and presentating information using strategic and technological means to make it more relevant and useful to users.

In part 2 I’ll share more points on monetizing content, making content local and relevant  and some ideas. Cheers

The MoSoLO age is here!

May I now call myself an inventor after adding a new word to the tech vocabulary :). Well, maybe not because nothing I say here is really new. Moving on....

MoSoLo is coined out of the words Mobile, Social and Local.

Now these 3 words currently shape the development and use of connected, content based applications. Its usually difficult to predict the future of tech these days but I know 10 years ago these stuff didnt matter, over the next 10 years they will!

With Mobile - its all about accessibility, availability. Information at my finger tips anywhere & anytime.

Now, mobile phones & devices have always been around, but never has so much focus been on the content of these devices & not the hardware.

This is what has changed - people are being empowered more & more using mobile solutions and platforms.

With Social - its all about people, friends, recommendations, community, feedback, relationships & interaction.We also know never in history has there been such a craving to communicate -

right from teenagers to grandparents - like we have now.

Everyone wants to know - "what's happening now". Power has been given to people to choose what they "like" and that determines what's important or not.

Facebook & similar networks have made possible a sort of democracy in technology as against the former dictatorship by machines and artificial intelligence.

There's currently a strong desire for reliable and organized information instantly & that's why Twitter has succeeded. There's also the push for crowdsourcing of ideas, content and opinions in form of competitions, reviews, networking platforms etc.

With Local - its obviously about location! Whats around you? What can I do for you based on where you are right now? Information is ranked as more relevant when its closer to you.

What rules in this area is data about the location of people...where they live, work, hang out & where they are at any point in time. Technology is growing fast to collect and process this kind of data creating much more opportunities and possibilities.

It becomes paramount for businesses to change with the times and develop solutions which incorporate these new trends else they'll be left behind with time.

I'll be writing on how businesses can take advantage and create solutions using these ideas & trends soon!

Until then...Welcome to the MoSoLo Age!