"Atomize" Your Content: Share in Small Bits
I was talking about Social Media strategies with a big tech client yesterday.
In the course of the conversation they rolled out a slick-looking report, chock-full of truly interesting data about their industry. They plan to make it available online.
I asked, “How? What’s the plan? Can I guess? You’re going to post it as a PDF on your website, right?” They confirmed that this was the planned approach.
I agreed that they should, indeed, post it as a PDF for folks who might want to read the whole document in its original, beauteous form.
But, couldn’t they also post the entire document on a web page – with each paragraph/factoid serving as a distinct element of content, using hashtags/permalinks to organize them (such as sometimes used at Dave Winer’s blog)?
Or, better yet, would they consider posting it online as a blog, with each major content section represented as an individual post?
The benefits of this “atomization” of content should be clear to long-time readers of this blog: by converting each factoid in the report into a standalone content element, the company could empower its consumers to use any or all of the report’s content as they saw fit.
If a blogger is really interested in factoid #27 (but could care less about the rest of the report), and wants to discuss it with their readership, they should be able to point directly to that factoid (and only that factoid) … The alternative would be to tell their readers, “Here’s a link to a 40–page report (PDF); go to page 27 and read the 3rd paragraph, to see the factoid in its original form.”
By contrast, atomized content exists on its own, and can be readily ripped for use by others.
To continue with our client example: if the content in their report were converted into individual blog posts, each factoid could be discussed on its own merits; bloggers could link to each factoid from their own sites, and the ensuing conversations and trackbacks would boost both the client’s readership and overall SEO.
To net it out for you: if you have good stuff to share, share it in small bits. And give each of those bits their own permalink.
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Comments
Todd:
Great tip/strategy.
You see this all the time. Companies/people that take nuggets of content and serve them up in a series reach a much wider audience and have more impact than those that force you to swallow the whole shebang in one big package.
When I was growing up, singles on radio were what brought musicians to my attention. The albums and concerts were what solidified the relationship.
Posted by: Eric Eggertson | June 18, 2008 11:46 AM
I was at a conference last week and a large healthcare organization talked about sharing info by putting all their print documents online as PDFs, "so as to retain the integrity of the design" (it was a designer talking). I wasn't in a position at that point to offer any alternate, but shook my head a little and thought about just this idea of atomization.
Thinking about any user of the info - What if the consumer doesn't want the whole document? They don't care if the design retains its look - make it usable. Let them "pull" what I want, rather than pushing the info out?
Great post, Todd. Thanks!
Posted by: Kelli Matthews | June 18, 2008 11:28 PM
Todd, isn't this reminiscent of the Media Snacker mentality?
http://occamsrazr.com/2007/10/30/occams-hors-d-oeuvres/
Posted by: Ike | June 23, 2008 12:38 PM
Personally I think PDF was a easy printing format not too much readable on screen. Second fact users finds easy to upload a PDF inspite of submit posts.
So we must teach users to prefer post messages. I think something working automatic PDF to post will solve problem.
PHP has some function for reverse operation but i don't know PDF to PHP convertor.
Posted by: ve kredi | July 27, 2008 04:46 AM