Content formats for the social web

I've spent the last couple of months obsessing about the potential benefits of content formats.

In much the same way that successful TV or magazine content is formatted - either the whole publication or show (Come Dine With Me, Britain's Got Talent...) or a section within it (think "Relative Values"...) so too is some of the most popular content on the social web. At least that's the thinking.

And there are loads of examples, from Phil DeFranco's monologues to the apparently throwaway remarks of Shit My Dad Says and the simplicity of What's in your bag?

But RSA Animate has to be one of the the best illustrations of the power of a format. And the reason that it's such a powerful demonstration is that we can compare the same content in different formats, because Dan Pink's talk about Drive has been uploaded as a straight-to-camera piece and as part of the RSA Animate series.

So here's the basic version (c. 40k views at time of writing):

And here's a chunk of the same talk with added animated doodling (c. 2.5m views at time of writing):

Admittedly, the Animate version has enjoyed and benefited from a lot of attention on the interwebs. And you might argue that it's shorter and therefore more accessible. But beyond this one direct comparison, a broadly similar pattern can be seen across all the RSA's straight-to-camera videos (views in the hundreds and low thousands) and the RSA Animate videos (which tend to have views in the hundreds of thousands). Clearly, the Animate format is adding something to the viewing experience so that these videos are being enjoyed and shared more than the non-formatted talks.

Now that's what I call a world class content format (in the style of the bald one in Masterchef).

Comments

[RobNonsense]

I like this Content Formats idea. It gives creative agencies something to do (ideas for content formats), while still allowing brands to do what they should be doing (giving people access to / producing THEIR OWN content).

Much nicer than makings ads - where the content is kind of hollow because it's born in the agency.

We made an explanatory video for a start-up recently, using the medium of stop-frame animation with cakes! (Here: www.wygu.com). I'd love to turn it into a Content Format and use CakeMotion(TM) to tell lots of stories for WYGU about peoples' inspirational careers, for instance.

[John]

It may add accessibility but it's worse than the lecture that I attended.

I think it just proves that brevity is king for online content.

[Patrick]

Hi John, I know what you mean. But I have to say that for me it made it a lot easier to sit through 10 mins of video.