Quality Content: The Lost Lecture and Fighting the Algorithms

Brands and quantity when quality doesn't seem to matter much

I stumbled upon a video that was recorded as part of Stanfords “Last Lecture” series and, not surprisingly, it was a perspective shifter. The gist of the series is valedictory: It’s the last lecture you hear at the end of the year, after the skills have been built and the teaching is done.  It’s the prof’s chance to impart the actual wisdom, the good shit, the knowledge you would get if they didn’t have curriculum to adhere to.

I wasn’t looking for something like this, specifically. But, the YouTube algorithm has been tuned well, and this particular message made it to the surface.

And for me, at that moment, it was a keeper.

Youtube didn’t care if I thought it was a “keeper” or about it’s quality, overall. They just wanted the click.

I got lucky this time, but I’m afraid I’m losing faith in the internet. Or, at least, in my ability to consistently find useful content.

It’s like the Hunger Games for those who are trying to communicate important stuff. The platforms are the Capital Arena, and the algorithms are the obstacles that must be conquered. What do brands and publishers have to do to get to the top? Will the good ones survive?

There’s too much click-bait chum. So much gamed content, so many bad-faith content creators. You’ve seen how bad it’s getting if you’ve tried to find any useful information on a financial decision? You’ve felt the dread of looking for unbiased reviews of software?

As the volume of content overall goes up, I know I’m missing some good and useful stuff. The zone has been flooded with shit, and now we’re all swimming in it.

Like many, i’m “dropping out” in some ways. I’m just not taking the bait when I see the provocative headlines, because I don’t want to provide positive reinforcement to someone just trying to get my click.

What does this mean for brands who actually have a good product and a legitimately valuable proposition for users? How can you get your message to the top if you don’t have gajillions of ad dollars for Meta and Google?

Brands are getting stressed. They’re adopting the techniques and “hacks” that the content hustlers are using. Desperate dancing on TikTok, dumb stunts that are poorly executed, off brand expressions. It all debases the brands that try too hard.

The “Last Lecture” concept from Stanford got me thinking about where and how to find the “good stuff.” And, more importantly, how to recognize it in the gutters of the platform recommendations.

We can’t trust the algorithms alone anymore because they are core to a business model based on ad dollars. There are fewer and fewer actual curators (not to be confused with the traffic chasing instagram influencers who aspire to being “curators”) of great or interesting stories. Socially driven recommendations don’t work anymore, either because many of the “people” on the networks are actually bots (or low-faith grifters). Ratings and reviews have been rigged for over a decade.

In the end, I think brands will have to fight the good fight. they’ll have to commit to making content (ads, videos, essays, stories) that are at least as good as the product itself.

Its going to be hard and require investment (time, money, effort) for brands: Make timeless work, spend the money to produce it well, take the time to get the right social partners in place, then pay to promote it. If the brand stays true to it’s values, is consistent in it’s voice and tone, creates good content… there’s a chance. If the team has persistence and does the work, shows the grit of a champion, the brand might break through and become a keeper for someone searching for a solution.