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.

Continue reading here: Social Media Impacts - Inside, Outside, Upside-Down

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