Content as Social Currency

Think of a funny friend.

This is the person you bring to happy hours and parties because you know, despite how awkward it may get, this person is sure to make everyone have a good time.

Now think of a self-absorbed friend.

This is the person who segues (ahem, forces) every conversation to morph into them telling a story (which may or may not be remotely related) about how they know exactly what you mean, in fact, it reminds them of this one time they… (out of respect for you, our dear reader, we’ll trail them off here).

When you bring either of these friends around you know how people will react to them. Everyone loves the first person, and everyone loves when the second person leaves.

Why? Because one is rich in social currency, and is generous enough to share. The other is playing with the equivalent of Monopoly money (obnoxious, loud, and essentially worthless). 

Quality content is the currency of the social media world. Those that provide it to their audience will be quoted, subscribed to, visited, and, ultimately, compensated for it. Those that don’t? They’ll be politely (most of the time) ignored. Their money is no good here.

When you’re creating content ask yourself the following:

Is this something someone would want to spend somewhere else? If you can’t imagine someone passing along your content to someone in their own network then they probably won’t. If currency is a medium of exchange, is yours worth exchanging?

Does this contain actual value? If you’re not solving a problem, answering a question, or introducing a “new” thought or perspective, it probably doesn’t.

Is my content telling a good story? When someone tells a good story, the rest of the room gets quiet and locks in to the storyteller. You can almost see their lips moving as they try to memorize the story as it’s told, likely because they want to make sure they can re-tell it to another group of friends.

The truth is, when you are creating content you’re going to invest your own time doing it whether you’re creating content that is so money or content that is Monopoly money.

So doesn’t it make more sense to spend it on something that has value in the real world?

(Editor’s note: By no means is this a “new” idea. I actually first learned about it back when I was a sociology major for a semester at Penn State. Additionally, some really smart people have also written about this, and their links are right under this sentence.)

• Social Currency by Christopher Carfi (in 2006)
• An Introduction to Social Currency by Julien Smith (in 2007)
• Outline of a Theory of Practice by Pierre Bourdieu (in 1977)

[image: amagill]