[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4Cast #209: Content farms

Wed Dec 22 10:26:44 EST 2010

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4Cast #209: Content farms
December 22nd, 2010

plant growing articles 
<http://www.oplin.org/4cast/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Content_Farm.png>Ever 
visited a content farm? Chances are you have, at least 
online. "Content farm" is the slightly derisive term for a 
company that hires freelance writers to create online 
articles answering the most common questions people post on 
the Internet. One of the best-known of these companies is 
Demand Media <http://www.demandmedia.com/>, which prides 
itself on giving people articles about the information they 
want, but online journalists sometimes refer 
<http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3ic1904d9b2e94022a620c2508a3f20eda> 
to such articles as "sludge" written by amateurs with no 
fact-checking and little editorial oversight. Because these 
articles meet an existing demand and are thus accessed often 
on the Internet, they tend to rise to the top of search 
engine results---something to keep in mind next time you use 
Google for answering a reference question.

    * Lessons from the content farm
      <http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/community/columns/other-columns/e3i7fd4195ba1b2a846d03fae18ea96f724>
      (AdWeek/Robertson Barrett) "Demand Media has turned
      traditional journalism on its head, flipping the model
      to create content that meets user demand, and using
      algorithms to determine which content makes the most
      money. For better or worse, its strategy has been
      effective. Search for anything from 'how to bake a
      yellow cake' to 'how to belch,' and you'll find Demand
      Media content at the top of the search results."
    * Don't blame the content farms
      <http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2010/07/dont-blame-the-content-farms207.html>
      (PBS MediaShift/Dorian Benkoil) "Rather than a small
      group of editors surmising what a community might
      want, algorithms from Demand Media, AOL and others
      process search queries and social media, glean what's
      wanted, then use other pieces of technology to
      calculate the likely value; they then quickly find
      writers or producers at a profitable price, assign and
      produce the content, attach money-making ads, and pay
      the 'content creators' in a streamlined way."
    * Top Trends of 2010: content farms
      <http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/content_farms_top_trends_of_2010.php>
      (ReadWriteWeb/Richard MacManus) "By the end of last
      year, two of these content farms---Demand Media and
      Answers.com---were firmly established inside the top
      20 Web properties in the U.S. as measured by comScore.
      This year, Demand Media filed for IPO and two big
      Internet portals---AOL and Yahoo!---joined the trend."
    * Why "content farm" news sites face an inevitable crash
      <http://www.bnet.com/blog/advertising-business/a-new-internet-bubble-why-8220content-farm-8221-news-sites-face-an-inevitable-crash/6647>
      (CBS Interactive Business Network/Jim Edwards)
      "Mostly, money is still rushing into online news
      content even though few of these properties have
      profitable business models. This is not sustainable.
      Something has got to give. First, it will start to
      drive down even further the price companies are
      willing to pay for new content. [...] The worst,
      least-useful sites will go to the wall. A handful of
      good ones will dominate the post-crash landscape. At
      that point, they better figure out a way to raise
      advertising prices in the long-term."

*/Wage Fact:/*

According to a copy editor who worked for Demand Media 
<http://www.theawl.com/2010/11/my-summer-on-the-content-farm> this 
past summer, freelance writers make $15-30 per article, and 
the copy editors make $3.50 per article.
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