For the first time, everyday people set the tone.
This article is letter (C) of our “Human Connect” series where we write an article for each letter of the phrase. “Human Connect” explores how relationships will change in the digital age. Find links to more articles in the series below.
Who’s culture is it? Short answer: Yours.
Why? Exactly what this article aims to explore and understand. Read on to learn why the connection between culture, you, and your online content empowers everyday people like yourself.
What Is Culture?
Simply put, culture is the stuff people make and the learned conventions that people live by. People create art, sports, and politics as just a few examples. Culture also includes the acceptable ways to react and interact with different areas of life. For example, the proper conduct when first meeting someone.
A culture can be so ingrained in a person that cultural norms are mistaken for a fact of life. For example, in North Americans see avocado one way – as an ingredient served only for savory dishes. But did you know in Asia, avocado is used used primarily for desserts! Avocado smoothie, anyone?
And contrary to popular belief, DNA does not equal culture. Culture is learned. Culture is fluid. Culture can be molded and changed. It’s why culture has changed with the ushering in of technological advances and social movements with the most recent being the internet and information age.
Culture By The Masses
The popularization of the internet is precisely why culture is now created by everyday people like you. By simply having a smartphone, you can easily create content like texts, images, videos. And it’s just as easy to share content you create or content created by other people. Because it’s so easy to share, it eliminates the traditional route of going through a gatekeeper.
Online culture is built on sharing and user-generated content. This is in stark contrast to the days of publishing companies, television networks, and radio stations drip-feeding content to the masses. Content in the days of mass media were a one-sided conversation.
“The dirty secret of mass media, though, was – and still is – that a great deal of it belongs to the companies that distribute it, rather than to the people who make it. That's begun to change as the internet rewrites the rules about who can put creative work into the public sphere as well as who can take it out. Mass culture has traditionally required corporate middlemen to operate the machinery of publishing and broadcasting; without them, no one's creation had any hope of reaching a broad audience. In the age of Flickr, Blogger, YouTube and Twitter, that's simply not true anymore.”
Before the internet, an author needed the approval and resources of a publishing company to bring his story to the people. But now, all a writer needs to simply do is sign up for a free blog account, post his story, and share it through his social media. It’s a culture of openness.
Word Up: Content Lifestyle
Before, culture was created for the masses. Now, culture is created by the masses. The one who distributes the most content, wins the dominant voice in culture. We live in a Content Culture.
For the first time ever, everyday people set the pace for culture. Content Marketing is the most effective form of online marketing to date because it completely focuses on providing value to the user based on what the user wants.
Appropriately we believe at Swomi in empowering internet users to live the Content Lifestyle – receiving the value of their online content that they rightfully deserve. It’s why we say “Your Words Have Worth.”
To learn more about our “Why” visit our About Us page. Thanks for reading and keep on creating cool content!
This article is part of our “Human Connect” series where we write an article for each letter of the phrase. “Human Connect” explores how relationships will change in the digital age.
Click below to read more articles in the “Human Connect” series:
(H)uman Connection In The Digital World
(U) + Others: Connect With Anyone Online Or Offline
(M) Why Your (M)essage Matters More Than You Think
(A) Can’t We All Get Along? Our Relationship With (A)I
(N) How To Grow (N)ew Connections Into Lifelong Friendships
(C) Here's What No One Tells You About Online (C)ulture
(O)nline/Offline Human Connection Now And For The Future
(N) The Hidden Power (N)ew Stuff Has On Your Brain
(N)ew Ways To Communicate Online
(E) Understanding The Background And Future Of (e)Stuff
(C) The Surprising Secret About Being A (C)ontent Creator
(T) What Matters When You Are Learning To Trust People Online?
