The Associated Content Model for Success

"Content farms": a derogatory term used by the mainstream for sites like Associated Content, Demand Studios and Seed. Sites like these regularly accept writing from ordinary people - people who don't have the benefit of a degree in journalism or communications, but who all the same have something to say.

The business model is making big money, and has got internet giants like Yahoo! and Google looking to get involved. But writers from the mainstream media view sites like Associated Content as a threat to the survival of their profession. One group has set out to create controls for online writing. They have even gone so far as to suggest Google should change the way it ranks content, because they feel articles by Associated Content writers and their peers are choking out mainstream content in search engine rankings.

I wanted to look at how Associated Content writers feel about the mainstream media proposal to create content standards, but I soon saw that this was not the story I needed to share with the world. The more important story is how Associated Content turns ordinary people into published writers, and how these writers have formed a community - a community with a vision and a drive to help people in need.

Linda StCyr says writing for Associated Content gave her a start in more mainstream media. "When I first started writing, I was scared," she says. "I couldn't believe that someone actually wanted to read anything I wrote." Linda now writes a print column for a New York newspaper and has also published several short stories. Associated Content was the first step in this writer's success, and recently it has also meant additional opportunities for many writers through Yahoo!.

Sure, most of us were thinking of ourselves and our bank accounts when we signed up at Associated Content, hoping to sell our writing. But what makes AC unique, even among similar sites, is the sense of belonging and the camaraderie in our community. I cannot even begin to count how many times one AC writer has complimented or encouraged another, promoted that person's writing, or simply sent kind words in times of frustration or family crisis.

In the last month, the work of one Associated Content writer has started somewhat of a chain reaction. Beyond anything else, for me this shows the calibre of people who write at Associated Content. R. Elizabeth C. Kitchen - not only a knowledgeable and talented writer, but a woman with a heart of gold - stirred us all into action when she reflected on how many of her fellow writers were struggling to make a living.

In Plight of the Unemployed Spurs Writers at Associated Content, our own Marie Anne St. Jean talks of Rose's inspiration to help not only other writers, but people in need everywhere. Associated Content writers sprang into action over the space of a weekend, adding to their usual workload in order to write one, two, a handful of extra articles for Rose's cause, to benefit those in need.

Those who have been involved in the writing and those who have read the articles, were given a privileged glimpse into the soul of the Associated Content community. Competition to the mainstream we may be, but Associated Content writers are not a mob of nameless, faceless people churning out content to make a quick buck. We are mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, trying to eke out an existence. We are retired veterans and school teachers, students trying to find a way to pay tuition, we are real people with real lives, and oftentimes I wonder that perhaps some among us don't have more than their fair share of troubles.

We, the writers, are the beating heart of Associated Content. We will go our various ways, go back to concentrating on whether we have met the week's deadlines or what we are making for supper tonight. But for a short time, the heart of Associated Content beat strong with a single purpose, to help those who struggle just to stay alive.

The legacy of a weekend lives on in the blogs that were started, the dozens of articles that will help those in need to find the assistance that can make a difference for them, and the promise of new charities to benefit from these very special articles each month from now on. It is not our writing style, our education or experience, or our search engine rankings that set us apart. It is the way we came together to help people who have a need. It is our community, and the fact that when one of us calls out for help, we can count on each other to do what is needed.

Sources:
Mike Shields, "Council to counter web content generators' growing clout?" Mediaweek

"Linda StCyr, interview 10 July 2010

Dylan Stableford, "Content 'farms': Killing journalism -- While making a killing." TheWrap (Slate)