If you don't think there's a content revolution going on then you haven't been in Austin for the past three days.
Walking the jam-packed halls of the Austin Convention Center it's clear that a lot has changed in the past year. Part of the fun of SXSW is the conversations you have on line, in the halls or waiting for panels to start. This year a few themes emerged for me that knit into an interesting, emerging, story about content, work and the relationship between makers and distributors.
The Emergence of the 'Gig' Economy.
While the nation's unemployment rate seems stuck in the mud, at SXSW everyone is working, and working hard. The shifting employment world has the folks at SXSW doing more and more fractional gigs, piecing together employment with a collection of short term projects, personal projects, online assignments and part time jobs.
The result is that almost everyone who's working at SXSW is also shopping for new gigs, writing assignments, blogging opportunities, both paid and free. For folks who tie their value to an hourly rate this is a complex equation. As Seth Godin explained it when I talked to him a while ago, he will do interviews and blog posts for free, but if you want him to speak at a conference he's going to get paid. He sees no conflict between 'free' Seth and 'paid' Seth. Seth sees his value the way that airlines see the value of a seat: for the Business customer, it's premium, for the vacation traveler the same seat can be priced as a 'value' item. No conflict to have the same 'product' in multiple price points. Historically creative talent hasn't been cool with variable pricing.
But in the 'gig' economy you can write a free blog post, give away a few free chapters for your paid e-book, sit on a panel for free and do paid keynote speeches all at the same time.
Curation. Moving from the edge to the Mainstream.
Sometimes the best way to learn what people are thinking is to invite them over for a cup of tea. So I did the SXSW equivalent and hosted a panel, which in fact, was a conversation. Conversations are open exchanges and I took the opportunity to test out the Great Creationism Debate. The debate, which I have in my head on a daily basis, is between creators of content (writers, photographers, filmmakers, etc) and aggregators (websites, gatherers, publishers, etc). In the world I live in, I'm always taking both sides of the debate as both a maker and curator.
I began the talk by sharing a collection of images that I'd shot the night before of the band Gym Class Heroes. As the pictures played on the laptop I asked: "Are these images mine, or his, or co-created?" The question is when artists see the world and interpret it, how much of that work is original, and how much is the equivalent of a 'mash-up' of the world and my creative words or pictures?
It was a controversial question and it got the crowd going, and it was a large crowd, almost 200 people in a full room, with standing room only. So clearly the subject of Curation has folks leaning in to learn more.
Then I opened the floor to hear other sides in the Creationism Debate. Lots of input here. A woman who shoots pictures around the world complained that people use her pictures, and don't use them 'in context'. Interesting. 'Sharing In Context' is a powerful new idea worth exploration.
An hour later we'd sparked some brains, caused some concerns, and overall explored the changing balance of power between makers and gatherers.
Perhaps the best way to get a quick snapshot of the conversation is to see these visual notes that an audience member took and uploaded.
http://soupiset.posterous.com/sxsw-interactive-sketchnotes-07-soupiset-tag
http://soupiset.posterous.com/sxsw-interactive-sketchnotes-08-soupiset-tag
"Curation is the New Black." Ok, I have to admit that I do think that's going to have to be a t-shirt before very long.
Brands. Engaged -- but respectful.
One of the things that the social media folks are wary of is the line between authentic community conversation and paid content, thinly veiled advertising. But of the many themes at this years' SXSW, one is that brands are thinking and acting both creatively and carefully in the Social Media space.
Pepsi is back, engaging users with Twitter, and working to embrace the passions and issues of its customers. Pepsi has a big presence here and seems genuinely committed to figuring out how to use new tools of communication to create a two way conversation with their users.
Microsoft is here, with lots of Windows 7 demos. There's no doubt that they've made good progress in engaging the community, but, as one slightly inebriated guy said at the Microsoft Sponsored Taco Truck at 2am last night: "Ok, sure, now that I've eaten this taco, I'm going to get rid of my iPhone." It was a good line.
AOL is here with SEED, the new content platform that empowers freelancers. Big green booth with weird hive-like things. Kind of like Devo Hats, but green. Weird but kinda cool.
Content Strategy -- the new new thing.
And then there's Content Strategy. This is the theme that I heard time and time again. From brands, to communities, to e-commerce sites, to publishers. The idea that in the web-enabled world, every site must have a content strategy is interesting and new. What seems clear is that a strategy means having a voice, having sources, thinking about audience content and planning a content methodology that you can afford and that supports your brand.
No matter where you go at SXSW the conversation is about content. Location-based Content with the hot start up Foursquare, text content in 'The Future of The Book' panel, Curated Content in panels that explore the complex mix of making and gathering, and in Brand conversations around advertising and social media.
Overall, we are at a moment in time that is clearly an emerging moment around content. Finding, Making, Organizing, Sharing, Re-mIxing.
In Austin there's an emerging community of content thinkers. And for 4 days, they're all under one roof.
Follow Steve Rosenbaum on Twitter: www.twitter.com/magnify
