Silence in the Echo Chamber

Ironically, the topic of this blog post is something that has already been spoken of. It's the "echo chamber," the most common reference to the idea that much of the thoughts on the web are redundant or derivative. I find myself posting much less lately because I often will find fresh content that mirrors the ideas that I was planning on writing about. In effort to reduce the echo, I thought about what "walls" were being created that have stifled original content for myself and others:

The Walls

RSS Feeds: Those actively engaged with RSS feeds get a great deal of information (even in snack form) thrown at them. The topics in those feeds get our brains working, but it's often about the work or thoughts of other people. While there's great value in this kind of analysis, when brainstorming I suggest ignoring your feeds.

Livestreams/Microblogs: On Twitter today I posted the following: "Know how when you were a kid you'd invent things that already existed? To you, they were new? Happens a lot with thoughts now on Twitter." This proved true when three people replied to me saying that had just had that "epiphany" today as well. In terms of being a "wall" Twitter is still a mixed bag for me. It does two things, having it open forces me to think of creative questions and points, but it also leads me to read the same of others. Unless you can ignore your tweet stream and focus only on the "What are you doing?" box, I'd say close this up as well.

Lazy Reconfiguration: An author once told, there are 6 great stories out there when it comes to fiction books. They have all been written, new books are the same stories with new people, settings, and technology. The optimist in me doesn't want to believe that statement, but assuming it's somewhat true, it means that creative configuration of content is vital. It means telling the same story from a different perspective and adding your own analysis and critiques. (But also making sure your analysis/critiques aren't clones of other respondents)

Conferences and Mixers: Choose your live events carefully. Unless you are a speaker sharing knowledge, ask yourself a few questions. Is this conference going to bring something new to the table? Are the people here going to be different from the last one I went to? Am I going to act as a filter for the speaker and send out someone else's thoughts into the stream (conference tweeting) or am I going to listen to a unique perspective and then collect my thoughts and offer my own?

The above walls are not without value. They serve the purpose of SHARING content with those that can't access it or find it. But don't get confused and think that sharing content is the same as CREATING content. In the digital space, your audience is composed largely of people who do know where to get this information so instead of showing them the same film twice, write the sequel, do the remake, or add the directors commentary. 

What are your strategies for avoiding and not contributing to the echo chamber?

Comments

[Tim Jahn]

I was wondering about this topic the other day and couldn't agree with you more Len. I'm sick of everybody at these events, conferences, etc babbling about the same old ideas. People need to get past all the fluff and fun and newness and start some original thinking.

My advice for people is Instead of summarizing someone else's post into your own post, try writing a post full of brand new ideas from your own mind. Your readers will love the fresh content!

[Sonny Gill]

Interesting point you bring up here, Len. There's definitely pros and cons to content creation while consuming so much content in the process.

I try to find my inspiration from atypical sites or blogs that most people in the industry don't flock to. It can even be media, a picture, a simple quote. Tiny things can trigger deeper thoughts for one's own content - so understanding that you can't (and shouldn't) rehash someone else's writing is key to being able to develop your own unique content.

[Sarah Bray]

I've been experimenting with putting limitations on myself to help with this. Instead of thinking "What can I write about?" (which inevitably leads to me thinking about all of the topics that people tweet about, blog about, etc.), I'm trying to think about something unrelated -- the color pink, for instance.

Then I'll brainstorm all about what the color pink has to teach me about websites, which will eventually lead me to my topic. The post might not even have anything to do with pink, but the process helps to take my brain in a new direction.

[alexander]

Yeah, but what if you've got a new plot for a book? One that carves new space, new territory? That learns from the past, lampoons it and messes with the genre?

They'll all tell you to get back to 'the six'.

There's no escape. We don't want your original thought or your challenging idea.

And you can dress it up as discontinuous thinking and we'll label it as cool, but we don't actually want it.

We only like 'challenges' that are safe and conform. Trust me.