AOL's Content Factory: Cutting Edge or Crossing the Line?
"Content is the one area on the Web that hasn't seen the full potential. Hopefully, we will spark a revolution of people doing content at a different scale," says [AOL's] Mr. [Tim] Armstrong, a former advertising executive at Google.
AOL is betting it can reinvent itself with a numbers-driven approach to developing content, based on what Web-search and other data tell it is most likely to attract audiences and sponsors.
As more of AOL's content play is revealed, it appears that Tim Armstrong's strategy is focused on leveraging actionable data from search and ad sales to create pre-sponsored content channels via low-cost freelancers and an editing staff directed at least in part by algorithms. Yes, it sounds a little '1984,' but the one discussion we should not have is, "Should this or shouldn't this be?" The fact of the matter is ... it is.
And even if we don't agree with the entire approach, there are elements of this plan that could allow traditional media companies to add more value to their web content that, as of yet, has not been able to replace the declining revenue of its offline properties.
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