Does Your Content Authentically Serve Your Needs?
I tend to be a somewhat "scatterbrained" individual.
That's a light-hearted way of stating that I "suffer" from what society likes to call ADHD, and I essentially have the attention span of a gnat. I've mentioned that before, so I won't go into it at length.
Part of the reason blogging and creating online content — in various forms — as been a pretty positive experience for me for over 20 years is that the online environment lends itself quite well to do what I call "thinking and working in Bits and Pieces."
Wild Pink Rose...
Why Are We Doing This?
That said, there's a big difference between simply being "totally random," and using your proclivity for fractured thinking and attention to actually "serve your needs."
We all have reasons for why we do things.
WHY do you keep a blog? When we peel back the layers of "standardized rationalizations" like "I want to make money" or "because EVERYone has a blog!" we can start looking at our true reasons for doing what we do.
I suppose there are those who give little more thought to what they do than simply "because it's THERE," but most of us have deeper reasons for the activities we're part of.
Contrasting leaves
For example, I blog because:
- I enjoy the process of writing, and "creating" with words.
- I enjoy the online interaction over a variety of topics.
- I like sharing my own nature photos.
- I am trying to build an accessible "body of work," both for my writing, and for my editing business.
- With some of my blogs, I am building a "brand identity" for various creative business ventures.
- Blogging is an extension of building a social media brand
I am sure you could come up with a list of your own, and it would be quite different from mine.
The main invitation, though, is to examine what need is being filled, here?
Flowers in our yard....
What Do You Want to Accomplish, Today? This Month? This Year?
So keeping in mind that we seldom do anything without having a need of some sort to address, what exactly are you trying to accomplish with the content you create?
It could be short-term, or it could be long-term.
The thing is, if we don't have some sort of goal or objective, it becomes all but impossible to know whether or not we are accomplishing what we were hoping to.
Which goes right back to examining whether the content we are creating is authentically serving our needs!
Many years back — when I was a teenager — I would occasionally play golf with a retired gentleman who was a friend of my Stepfather's. He was a former corporate executive, and I learned a lot of wise snippets from him. Among other things, he explained to me the value of understanding your true objective; your purpose.
Red clover
"If you don't figure out what your purpose is," he said, "everything will feel like it is just being left to chance. If you are trying to hit a can on a stump with a pebble, you can either throw an entire handful of pebbles and HOPE that one hits, or you can carefully take aim with ONE pebble and hit your target."
Perhaps it's a strange analogy when it comes to web content... but the point is that in order for your content to have much hope of actually serving your needs — WHATEVER they might be — you have to have a plan other than just "create something" and hope it's the answer.
Now, you might be thinking "Aw, come on! Nobody DOES that!"
Actually... surprisingly many people DO. They just have an idea like "I need to start a blog," or "I should have a YouTube channel," or "maybe I should start a podcast."
Nice idea, perhaps... but why?
Thanks for reading!
(Another #creativecoin creative non-fiction post)
Is YOUR content serving your needs? Have you even defined what those needs ARE? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 191003 12:38 PDT
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That is an Interesting way to look at it.
My content is severing my needs. I have built it in a way I really only need to create content a couple times a week if that anymore.
I have built up this massive index. I get to share it around now whenever I see there is a purpose to do so. It is nice having a body of work that still serves a purpose months to years later.
It's nice when we can create "evergreen" content, too... which is one of the reasons I have tended to stay clear of "time sensitive" types of blogging.
With this "one week active" period we have here, this is not the greatest place for long-term content, but I like the community so I keep plugging away at it.
Your ending I think is very relevant to a lot of us here. We (or maybe it is mostly just me) want to be that sort of person that is very organized and goal oriented and wakes up in the morning with things to check off my list to bring me closer to that big goal. Unfortunately I am one of those people that showed up here with a vague goal hidden in the sentence "I want to practice writing." Unconscious of not, there is a goal in mind. For us vague folks just creating something to put on the blog is serving that need. Although it certainly would be a good idea to refine that goal a little more and then try to serve that more specific need. Anyway, I'm rambling - I enjoyed reading this and it got me thinking.
Well, nothing wrong with wanting to practice your writing! AS LONG AS the expectations you may have tied to the outcome of your writing doesn't extend beyond simply wanting to undertake a daily (or weekly, or whatever) exercise in writing. That, in and of itself, is a goal. I had a blog for many years that was my "daily brain dump," and that was its sole purpose. But it had that deliberate purpose...
Perhaps my post was also a gentle nudge of criticism at those who can't get beyond they notion that they are "creating content because we get paid." That's a pretty poor reason to do anything, and the vast majority of us around here don't get "paid" enough to make it a valid reason. Sure, it was a "reason" for me at a time when my blog here earned $500+ a month and I could justify it as a substitute for a part time job, but that's not now.
And so, I am increasingly going to use this as a vehicle to promote my art; my wife's non-profit organization and a few other things... while trying to keep it interesting. And I am planning to write more stuff that will have a wide distribution...
Hmm, that is a good point. I wonder how many of us arrived here with a vague goal like wanting to practice, and have done so, but now need to reevaluate that goal. I need to. It is a good gentle nudge.
It sounds like you know just what you want to do. Social media certainly is all about promotion. Even facebook, which seems often to be promoting an image of how fabulous a person's life is, or promoting a body if there is nothing but selfies. I guess that is the ultimate criteria for goal making here: what am I promoting? In my case, my writing. That might just be good enough for now.
You ask a really great question in this one, a question I have not considered. I was one of the know-nothings when I came to steem I just wanted to get off FB. I didn't really even know what a blog was, and look at me now! I complained a bit about the fork, but it has made me ask myself that very question, and allowed me to rest a bit, looking within for something to say. My post have gotten more dear TO ME. I do this for me. Thanks for the opportunity to give this some thought.
Like you, I ended up here in part because I was fed up to above my eyeballs by the post US Presidential election nonsense in 2017... and I was just ready for a more community oriented place for social content. And something less "fluffy." And this seemed like the answer... and I have to admit that I have made some interesting and nice connections all around the world... on a level I have definitely not experienced on Facebook.
Great food for thought. I love words, and it fulfils in me a creative purpose. It has become a lot bigger than that as I have become involved with the steemiverse though!
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I have long had a fondness for "flow-of-consciousness" writing, and this fits the bill, in that sense.
What's nice about writing here is that it reminds me a lot of "social blogging" as it existed 15 years ago, in the pre-Facebook days.
I remember watching a Video and the content of it was about Purpose. He was saying that we should all look for our purpose in life, if not we will be unhappy in the end. Thanks for making me remember that by reading your post. Have a great day!
Glad you got something from the post!
One of the "old lessons" I have been remembering recently is that of the danger of "falsification of type." It was something C.G.Jung explored — almost a century ago — and many others have, since. In short, if we trying to shoehorn ourselves into being and doing something other than what our true nature calls for... we will end up unhappy.
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