Content is not a gadget

Powered's Greg Verdino posted some intriguing slides on "What is Content?" We responded with this:

I've been wondering why so many define content in terms of the tool that transports it. Print publishers defend paper. Mobile marketers promote visuals on cell screens. Web designers push the web, saying printed paper is dead. Social media gurus push chat inside social media tools, saying the :30 second spot on TV is dead. Depending on which box you make a living from, you promote your box and denigrate all other boxes.

Which is silly, isn't it? Content is one of only three things that flow in our economy -- to wit, (1) content or information, (2) good or services, and (3) financial value. It's part of the bloodstream of society. Who cares what box it fits in, or more important, why do we have to define it in the constraining definition of a box?

I'm in the middle of reading Jaron Lanier's brilliant "You Are Not a Gadget." Content is not a gadget, either.

Image: Clio20