Contentions on content

Alan Boyce

When standing at the bus stop, I often ask the people next to me precisely when it was that the meaning of "content" was reversed.

As they edge nervously away, I go on to explain that there was definitely a time when "content" meant specifically what the thing filling a space was or what it was about. The content of my sandwich, for example, is ham in this sense.

Yet "content" is used more and more as a way of referring in the abstract to whatever fills the space, irrespective of what it is. The sandwich's content, in this sense, is what goes between the pieces of bread.

We often hear that "content is king". In this latter sense, it's both true and completely vacuous. It only means anything if you are talking about what that content actually comprises.

The prevalence of the idea that content is just something filling a space - details be damned - is surely one of the reasons why there are so many terrible websites. Content produced without regard to purpose or audience just makes using the internet harder, and it exposes publishers to risk.

The internet allows anyone who wants to write or publish a website to exercise their creativity, but it doesn't provide them with or owe them an audience. That still has to be earned by standing out in terms of quality.

And what quality means depends upon the purpose of the site and the audience it is aimed at. News, for example, has to be relevant and newsworthy. It has to be timely and written well, and to scrupulously separate fact from opinion and rumour. All content must respect copyright and other intellectual property rights. It must not be libellous or offensive to its audience. If it's ever going to be found online, it has to be written and marked up to optimise its search engine performance. It has to be written for website visitors, not newspaper readers or university tutors - and not just any website visitor, but your website visitors. It has to be consistent with the brand and messages promoted.

Get it wrong and you'll be overlooked at best. At worst you'll end up in court and out of business. No one can afford to overlook the content of their content. Not if they want to make their readers content.