More on content farms

While researching content farms, I found a thought-provoking blog post by Matt Gratt:  Content Farms, Performance Publishing, and the Future of Online Media. One of the first points that he makes is that "content farm" is a somewhat demeaning term; he prefers "performance publishing".

Whatever you might think of these sites, it's clear that they've made a huge impact on traditional publishing, in much the same way that the iTunes music store impacted the traditional music production industry. A lot has been said regarding the quality of content generated by this type of publishing, but Matt makes the point that:

...a preponderance of re-written garbage will make the well researched, well written stories rise to the top. If anything, more Demand Media-esque content will make the New York Times stick out more. 

As mentioned in my previous post, I recently started writing for Yahoo Associated Content. It's more of an experiment than anything else, at this stage. It should be interesting to watch the evolution of the industry, though.

Kicking it off

After a long break, I'm back to blogging. It's a new adventure this time, yet it's something I've been doing forever. This is one of the ways I hope to keep my writing muscles from atrophying.

Another recent effort is signing up--and writing--for Yahoo Associated Content (AC). There are many online content farms around (reviewed last year by Spill Guy), and they all have one feature in common: the pay (if any) sucks. I'm definitely not in this for the money. But it's fun, and keeps the writing skills fresh. If you enjoy writing, give it a try. And if you have questions about AC or the other sites I considered, feel free to leave a comment