AI slop is splintering the internet. Marketers must pick a side.
By flooding channels with cheap and nasty content, AI-generated slop is splintering the internet in two. Content marketing, economically diminished, gets a second chance.
John Oliver had a good stab at explaining how slop is flooding the internet and why we should care. Sometimes entertaining, slop is mostly a nuisance - but it can also be misleading and harmful. Slop erodes our ability to trust: why believe anything, when anything can be faked?
This has serious implications for content marketing. Suddenly, content costs nothing to create, but bears a “cost” to consume, as audiences need to fact-check every claim before they can engage. As consumers become aware of that cost, content is no longer a reliable marketing channel.
How did it come to this?
In the realm of brand, content was king
Seasoned professionals will recall the time when Content was King (the book, but also Bill Gates’ essay). Content was the Product: a well-crafted artefact designed to be monetised via subscription, advertising or conversion. To be valuable, it had to be original, interesting and credible. In the realm of brand, content was king.
Then metrics took over. Content became the means to achieve rankings, follows and likes. Content had to be optimised to grab attention, and everything got bloated: blog posts with keywords, social posts with hyperbole, landing pages with CTAs. Content became a commodity, the king reduced to a jester.
As slop reduces the commodity value to zero, content can ascend again.
The two internets
By flooding channels with cheap and nasty content, slop is splintering the internet in two. The Branded internet is credible and transparent, with clear links to the humans behind the content. The Swamp internet is overwhelming and opaque, flooding social platforms with stuff and nonsense.
Branded content may be published by an individual or an organisation - the critical distinction is purpose. Branded content aims for long-term engagement, with a clear message designed to earn your trust. Slop offers instant gratification, designed to generate a single click.
As the boundaries between the two internets get sharper, content marketers must pick a side.
Content shall be king again
Life in the Swamp has no significant economic value, and marketers who specialise in commodity content face a bleak future. As production gets automated and high-profile organisations take a stand against the slop, commodity marketing is reduced to junk.
On the other hand, marketing skills for the Branded internet will be in high demand. Brand marketers use AI to augment the creative process, not to replace it. As menial editorial tasks are automated away, marketers focus on planning, iterating, fine-tuning, augmenting, repurposing and syndicating.
In other words, content might be king again. AI accelerates everything, including bringing things full circle.