The Importance of Creating Responsible and Valuable Content Online

Content creation has developed and evolved majorly over the past decade, and has had massive influence in the creator economy.

The creator economy consists of a whole ecosystem of brands, influencers, communities and platforms, allowing creators to earn from their content.

However, the popularity of social media and content creation has also allowed for the mass spread of misinformation, fake news, and unrealistic expectations of our self-image and success. We are so influenced by social media that we forget to consider the source of the content we see and what their true intentions may be.

Responsibility

To be responsible, by definition, is to have an obligation to do, or have control over, something or someone. As a creator sharing content online, you have a responsibility to create meaningful and truthful content, especially since content can be so easily manipulated as it is shared from person to person. Your audience trusts and depends on you to keep any promises and to honour any commitments you have made to them — this is especially important when you are charging for your content. If you break certain promises, you will lose the trust from your audience that you may have been building for some time. Without an audience, how can you succeed as a creator?

“With great power comes great responsibility”

Creating responsibly does not only apply to keeping your promises and commitments, it also involves holding a certain standard to what your content portrays to those who come across it. The internet can be accessed globally and easily, so always create content that is safe, honest and considerate to others. It is your duty to control sensitive content you publish online. You can include an age restriction feature, or trigger warnings, so that all those who come across it are aware of its contents and consent to viewing it or not.

It’s also important to note that you shouldn’t share harmful or untruthful content. This sounds very obvious, however, on occasion a creator may share this type of content on a whim, under emotional circumstances, or for clickbait. Once something is said or shared online, it can always be found again, even if you decide to delete it. We’re all victims of saying something we don’t necessarily mean in real life, and more often than not we can apologise and redeem ourselves afterwards. However, the internet can be a little less forgiving for these circumstances. It’s easy to get caught up in wanting more likes and followers, but sharing clickbait content, without knowing whether it’s true or false, is not the way to go. Besides, this sort of content will only blend amongst other meaningless content that saturates our social media feeds everyday, why not stand out from the crowd and create authentic and valuable content instead?

Value

There are many ways to consider what “valuable” means in the context of content. Valuable content can be considered to be something of use or desirability to someone. A lot of what contributes to being valuable, is dependent on a creators’ audience. What does your audience need or want from you? Does your audience consist of a particular type of person, age group, race, orientation or gender? How can you think of content ideas that will help or entertain your audience? Focusing on their basic needs, any relevant questions they would want answers to, and particular pain points experienced, can help you gather the knowledge and find solutions to their needs, whilst providing an overall positive experience in the process.

In order for your audience to consider your content valuable, they will also need to have trust in you. You need to prove to your audience that you have the expertise, relatability, credibility, and authenticity needed to gain that trust. A lot of this comes from backing up your sources with evidence, and logical, rational, and accurate arguments to support your content. This being said, it’s important to also add some authenticity to your content. Make sure you input your own ideas, thoughts, and experiences to make it your own, and not just a similar version of something that already sits online elsewhere.

How can this be put into practice?

Tryb’s platform allows for creators to have creative control over the content they create, and have full ownership of their audience, via email or paid subscriptions. With misleading, pervasive content saturating social media, we believe that a value-focused media ecosystem is the future for content creators. Our platform does not rely on hype, fake news, filters, or clickbait, and is not overrun with ads and algorithms. Alternatively, creators can build their own Tryb page, publish high-quality content on their own terms, and market their page on other platforms if they wish to do so. They can form direct relationships with their supporters, own their audience, and succeed in ways that are less superficial and don’t rely on brands and advertisements for support.

Since our creators have complete creative control over their content, we want to stress and encourage them to think responsibly and create responsibly, when utilising our tools and platform as whole.