Is Everything Content?

The term “content” has become ubiquitous. Today, everyone creates content, and everyone is a content creator. But is everyone also a writer?

Do you know what distinguishes traditional writing from content creation? Do you consider yourself a writer, a content creator, or both?

The debate over content is heated

The debate is heated. To quote the actress Emma Thompson: “[Content is] just a rude word for creative people. You don’t want your stories described as ‘content’ or your acting or producing described as ‘content.’ That’s just like coffee grounds in the sink or something.”

Jason Bailey adds to that somewhat sarcastically, “In practical terms, ‘content creator’ neatly accomplishes two things at once: It lets people who make garbage think they’re making art and tells people who make art that they’re making garbage.” (The New York Times, 9/27/2023)

Has traditional writing become a lofty, depreciated art form?

Hardly. Writing is one way of expressing ideas, emotions, or information through the written word. Content creation is another way.

A consumer product vs. originality

Writing is crafting text to communicate ideas, tell stories, or convey information. It encompasses various formats, from novels and poetry to essays and journalism. The focus is often on craft, style, context and depth of thought. Writing’s primary focus is the text’s clarity, coherence and stylistic qualities.

Content creation, on the other hand, is typically geared towards marketing or branding: to inform, entertain, or persuade a selected target audience with an engagement and conversion goal in mind. The word content suggests something more diminutive: Digital bites that can be “churned out” to drive traffic and convert “eyeballs” into customers.

Content primarily considers the target demographic, the purpose of the information and the platform on which it will be presented. It extends to videos, podcasts, infographics, social media posts and various other forms of digital media.

This evolution was driven by changes in consumer behavior, where audiences increasingly sought engaging materials rather than traditional advertising. A content creator takes information, spins it and decides which medium fits best to stage it on.

For many writers, “content creation” implies producing an indistinguishable consumer product. For content creators, “traditional writing” is often not targeted enough and is dismissed as elitist and dull “thought content.”

Key differences between writing and content creation:

Purpose: Writing may be an end in itself, while content creation implies a specific objective.

Format: Content is often designed for quick consumption and shareability.

Audience: Content creators focus heavily on target audiences and engagement metrics.

Medium: Writing is text-based (blogs, articles), while content creation seeks multimedia and social platforms.

Longevity: Traditional writing often aims for timelessness, while content is more ephemeral.

Context: Writing provides context and is remembered beyond the choice of words. Content creation can be superficial with its zippy, fleeting buzzwords that fit short-lived trends.

While there’s an overlap between writing and content creation, not everything written is “content”. Content creation is an umbrella term for producing various media forms to engage audiences quickly and achieve marketing objectives. While integral to content creation, traditional writing requires an in-depth and lasting thought process.

I, for one, dislike the sweeping “contentization” of the written word. Not all of us are “content creators” whenever we put pen to paper (or cursor to screen).

But sometimes, we need to be.