Life After Content Farming: the Transcendence of Bill Simmons

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Life After Content Farming: the Transcendence of Bill Simmons

Bill Simmons may be the ‘most organic’ content farmer of all time.

Bill Simmons was 'fired' from ESPN, and it means we get to watch a 'big time' career/medium/content_farm/network transition by one of the most popular internet content farmers of all time. I see Bill Simmons as one of the last widely-read text-based voices that had the opportunity to use 'words on the internet' as a tool to scale his voice beyond just columns/words/blogs. Sure, more people know him as a 'polarizing generalist ESPN personality,' but he started as a farmer, organizing text and creating hyperlinks for unappreciative internet passersby since before 2000.

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Bill Simmons may be the 'most organic' content farmer of all time. It was a simpler time, when social media and media startups were not all seen as gimmicky tools that were meant to #monetize the dumb-dumbs and emerging markets of the internet. Back when humans generated internet content for real humans, not to algorithmically appeal to generate social sharing.

I used to write at Grantland as a 'staff writer' when my internet brand 'meant something,' but then I lost everything after a content farming meltdown. Writing 'under the masthead' that features the most transcendent content farmer of all time gives me a unique insight into what it means to write words that are considered 'premium' on the internet. At times, premium farming feels meaningful, but it usually is just pumping out content for people to pore through and then distance themselves from identifying with. I'm sure no one understands this better than Bill Simmons.

Bill Simmons is a transcendent content farmer because he had the passion/ego to believe his content should reach more than just internet users

Bill Simmons has played every medium right, pivoted his content-creation arsenal appropriately at every turn, and used the contemporary mediums of scale. He has 'been on TV', created a diverse portfolio of web content, built one of the most popular podcasts in the history of mankind, and even created 'premium documentaries' [via 30for30] that I assume make more money than blog posts on the internet. He built a content vertical [via Grantland] that helped his own brand and wasn't forced to scale [via linkbait on Facebook]. He is leaving ESPN when it is post-blatantly obvious it is just an advertorial partner of sports leagues. Overall, Simmons has created a 'personal brand' that he has leveraged to make 'mad bank' from (a) content compan(ies) who need 'visionary talent' to #influence viewers/readers/followers.

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The question plaguing all content farmers [via 'creative types using the internet as a medium']:

How do you become more than just a content farmer?

These are the 'lessons' I've learned, becoming a 'media expert' by consuming Bill Simmons ESPN content for 15 years (and also briefly hanging out with him ~3 times.

Marginalize your message so that people marginalize you.

Writing for Grantland finally made me realize that I 'had a gimmick.' Before, I naively thought I was actually writing in some sort of 'pure voice' that represented a generational condition. If you are a successful content farmer, it means that you have a gimmick and have successfully appealed to a relevant demographic of people who consume internet content. You've found a formula. Don't get confused and think you are 'a writer.'Content is content is content. You're lucky to get paid more than $20/blog post to write at a 'premium content farm' / 'magazine website.'

Live as a farmer. You still need to keep pumping out prolific content to keep users from forgetting about you. This is how you build 'fans', which are mainly just people talking about how irrelevant/terrible you are while they consume your content for decades.

Don't stay anonymous.

I remember meeting up with Bill Simmons in San Antonio during the 2013 NBA playoffs. 'My' beloved team the San Antonio Spurs were about to get tragically eliminated by the Miami Heat. At the time, I was 'burnt out' on content farming, questioning the point of even publishing words on the internet. Even Billbro said, "You sound burnt out." He went on to question my decision to 'stay anonymous' during the rise of HIPSTER RUNOFF. Did it put a ceiling on my career when it comes to being 'more than just a content farmer'?

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I think that 'staying anonymous' can get you buzz as an 'outsider' to a media machine. However, there comes a point where you must turn your mysterious internet brand into a personal brand. This awkward moment often 'compromises' the perception of your voice from your audience of internet followers, but to move beyond niche success 'on the internet,' you need to get your head out of your ass from thinking the entire world are 'media insiders' who Tweet every 15 minutes. Bill Simmons is a transcendent content farmer because he had the passion/ego to believe his content should reach more than just internet users.

Never get attached to one medium. Social media will continue to create graveyards. Video content will usually feel stupid. Just keep building the personal brand.

Put yourself at the top of a scalable content farm pyramid.

Nate Silver, Ezra Klein, Jason Whitlock, and Bill Simmons are all humans who have 'vanity content farms' that used their personal brands to 'scale.' Remember: Don't 'get all passionate' about the quality of the content that is being cropped on your farm. Don't kid yourself and think that every thing actually needs to be quality content. Your value was having a brand that was valuable enough to have some large brand throw money are you. After that, everything is part of the same internet. Keep gettin' those hits.

When you become a writer on the internet at a successful content farm, you are automatically at the bottom of the content farm pyramid. There are many more people who are keeping the content farm alive. There are salesmen who keep the farm 'monetized,' collections departments who keep checks coming, and editors who keep the content farm from suffering from a content drought. Sure, words are important, but the farm isn't necessarily tied to word-based monetization either.

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As big as your ego might be from creating content that resonates with a demographic of content consumers, remember that your voice is only so valuable as a word-and-image-generator. 'Big ideas' and marginalized personalities that resonate with audiences are important. But from a pure content farming perspective, the more pages you have, the more valuable your text-based internet content is. Just one content farmer can't create the quantity of content necessary to scale in today's content economy.

Make everyone hate you but know that it means they are just paying attention.

When you have marginalized yourself, it means that 'smart people who form independent opinions' hate you because you have reduced yourself to an audience beyond them. No matter what people are saying, you have already won. People care about what you have to say and analyzing your marginalized audience. Everyone needs to learn how to be a 'shitty writer' in order to reach mass audiences.

At the core of content farming is a passion to influence. You are obsessed with the medium on which you produce content, and the strength of your audience. But really you just wanted attention. That was the point of it all along, since you started compiling words. Since you farmed your first crop. Since the first person told you that your content 'gets' them.

Very few content producers get to escape from the grind of the farm

Every 'media expert' has some hypothetical scenario where Bill Simmons goes to the [popular network], or her [branches out to go independent], or a [large online media company] 'properly monetizes' what he does. I am interested to see what this means for text-based farming after he declares what makes him worth millions of dollars.

He is more than just a content farmer because he has the enthusiasm that you need to believe that your content should reach every human regardless of the medium. While this 'passion' for your own content is often perceived as ego, no one understands how hard it is to keep tricking the world into believing that you are doing more than just pumping out more dumb content in the oversupplied content economy. It doesn't matter what Bill Simmons does because there is no real prestige in creating content, only the opportunity to go where you are overpaid to produce content. Very few content producers get to escape from the grind of the farm.

As a content farmer, all I can do is watch Bill Simmons continue to redefine what it means to be a content farmer, leaving every farmer behind with outdated farming tools, methodologies, and perspectives on sustainable content.

Carles.Buzz is the fallen content farmer behind HIPSTER RUNOFF. Read more Life on the Content Farm here.