Are you an information repeater?

Sometimes when I talk in public about my book, people get offended. “Why would I buy such a book when it's all available for free on the Internet?” they ask. That's a good question. These days, information on almost any conceivable topic is available on the Internet for free. So why do poor souls like me even bother to write books, especially traditional (printed) books that you buy through a bookseller?

It's kind of a funny question, though. In theory, owning a car and knowing how to drive is all you need to become a racecar driver. But no one would think of calling themselves a racecar driver unless they actually ran some races.

Which brings us one of the biggest problems with the Web (especially the “blogosphere” [but I hate that term so I try not to use it]) today: the information repeater.

An information repeater is someone who puts up web pages or blog entries that consist entirely or almost entirely of someone else's content and to which they add no value. No insightful commentary, no explanations, no “I disagree because…”. Just someone else's content.

That's what books and other original content bring to the world: yes, there's information out there already — and you know what, most of it's always been free for the knowing if you could find the right people to talk to — but it takes skill to take the information and do something with it. Is everything that comes out of your mouth insightful? No, I didn't think so. It definitely takes work to write something original and insightful. Why else do you think that students buy pre-written essays and that educational institutions resort to using services like TurnItIn.com?

If you're setting up a web site or blog, do us all a favor and follow the guidelines for creating quality content that I and others have described. Remember, the Web isn't about information repetition, it's about information linkage. Don't just copy someone else's content, wrap your own thoughts around it.

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