I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. The whole quality versus quantity thing in content creation…Yes, I know, worn out topic. But bear with me because I’m not going where you think.
What do I actually mean by quality? And what does quantity offer? And here’s the one I keep coming back to: who is mature enough to produce quality content and at the same time, who is still mature enough to recognise it when they see it? Because I’m not sure those two things are growing at the same pace anymore.
Content is everywhere. We consume it through social media, through blogs, through YouTube, through whatever screen is closest. And we consume it based on what we actually need from it or what we think we need. Until recently the rule was simple enough: good content solves a problem for your audience. That’s it. Job done.
Well. Yes. But.
There’s a shift happening. More and more I see content produced not because someone had something to say, but because they couldn’t stand the silence. A mad dash towards creating something, anything, just for the sake of being there. And yes, it produces a result. It gets you seen. It keeps the algorithm fed. It gives you that fake security of not being left behind, not missing the trend, not falling off whatever train everyone else seems to be on.
So instead of publishing when you have a strong opinion, or a real experience, or something genuinely worth giving, you just publish. Because the alternative feels worse.
And this creates an avalanche of … I actually struggle to name it exactly. But the result is loads of content nobody needed, met with loads of likes nobody really meant. Because people stopped using likes as an actual signal. Sometimes you like something because your group likes things. Sometimes you like it because you know the person and you don’t want to make it weird. Interacting on social media has become more like a social policy than a genuine response to something that moved you.
And this is where the recognition problem comes back. If we’re performing appreciation rather than feeling it, we’re also slowly losing the muscle for telling the difference. Between content that gave us something real and content that just filled a moment. That worries me more than the volume does.
I’m totally fine with the visibility game, by the way. I understand why it happens. Everyone needs traffic. Everyone needs an audience. Everyone needs, occasionally, honestly, to stroke their ego a little.
But then I turned it back on myself. Do I actually want to be all over the place just for the sake of being seen?
My brain says no. My ego says yes. My fear of not catching the trend screams yes.
I like the moments when the brain wins. It doesn’t always, I’ll be honest about that. And I’ll also be honest that I started writing this piece with no clear idea where it was going. I just had this thing I couldn’t stop thinking about and I started typing. Which is, I realised halfway through, exactly the point. Not every piece needs a destination before it has a first sentence. Sometimes the thinking is the thing worth sharing.
So here’s where I landed. Not a strategy. Just a personal bar.
I publish when one of three things is true.
A genuine experience I can’t stop thinking about. Something I feel strongly enough about that staying quiet would bother me more. Something worth giving … actually giving, not performing.
That’s it. And the mad dash can keep going without me.