Do content creators have a solution to every problem? Do they have all the expertise and knowledge to confidently put their content across on different platforms? And as a consumer do you really believe in all that they have to offer? Or do you have doubts as to what goes behind the scenes?

I am no expert to answer all of those questions but I would like to share my perspective, especially with this plethora of content being generated daily.

So if I have broadly categorised content into two buckets – 1) Entertainment 2) Informational – Even in this category, there are broadly two subcategories – ‘topicalish’ and ‘know-how’ ones. This article dives into this specific category of content which presents a problem and offers a solution sometimes.

The solution is not common or unique to the creator. As a consumer we know that too and might have heard it in some format previously, but what differentiates a creator and consumer is the fact that the former makes a conscious effort to organise their thoughts and observations into a beautiful storyline, rewrites it a million times, proofreads it, edits it, formats it and then publishes it.

So let’s appreciate the fact that content creation isn’t easy. It requires a lot of dedication to let the creative juice flowing in exploring an everyday topic and make it interesting to sell it to the audiences.

However, does that mean the creator knows the solution and has this all-encompassing wisdom to solve all your problems?

Nah! They are just keen to share something that has worked for them, and they believe it might help others. And some of them are sometimes just recycling their old content to keep their numbers up, keep the eyeballs glued to their content and make some income.

As a consumer, it is essential to understand these subtleties to consume responsibly and not believe everything that is being told or rather sold to us.

I consume a lot more content than I create and so I can reasonably distinguish an honest write-up from the mass click-bait production that adds no value to the consumer. They are either repetitive or superlative or overly enthusiastic with seemingly fake energy.

Don’t get me wrong that all content creators are the same, there are quite a few whom I admire, and they inspire me to show up every single day. They are original and have a powerful message to deliver, but not all of them and not always.

And it would be wrong to assume that people who create content would always have the right answer. They might have this one popular blog or vlog or post or story, but that doesn’t mean the rest shall always follow suit. Some are going to be worth your time and some not so much.

In essence, as a consumer of a lot of content and also someone who creates content, here are a few suggestions that I think as a consumer we all should do to uplift the entire cycle of content generation and consumption.

As a consumer, what you should do?

• Like, share and subscribe responsibly. A lot of it is just clutter or ramble. But if you do watch this garbage and share it, that’s more of what we shall get. Understand the difference between good content and great content. And I don’t need to define bad content – that’s easy to understand. But good content is something that has a few good points, is clear and the effort put in by the creator visible. Great content is where you can connect with the creator, understand the sentiment behind the content and resonate with their thoughts. Appreciate when you see a great content – for a vast majority, that’s their source of livelihood and those rare masterpieces are not generated every day. So be a connoisseur of great content. You’ll get more of what you like – it’s the law of nature.
• Be respectful – So coming to the bad content (and there is plenty of that), be respectful when you don’t like something. It’s okay to disagree or write a comment that explains your resentment but be polite and respectful to the creator – It is easy to comment, difficult to create
• Judge the article by the use of its messaging and not by the clickbait headline that made you click in the first place.
• Ever heard of content recycling. Yes, that’s true – Sometimes content creators recycle their content in different packaging, be smart to be able to distinguish that so you don’t prey victim to their strategies.
• And lastly, cut them some slack and don’t believe in everything that someone says because you liked this one article/video/post that they had created. They have their share of ups-and-downs, and probably at times some of their content is going to be shallow and wouldn’t cut the mark.