It was always inevitable.

When there were only a few sources pumping out killer content, as an audience member it was relatively easy to divvy up our attention. Not so long ago there were only a handful of radio stations, a pocketful of local newspapers and magazines and a couple of TV stations.

Now, thanks to the Internet and the arrival of the digital tools of production on our desktop, laptop, tablets and even smartphones, we’ve all become content producers. And, the inevitable result was always going to be a tsunami of information, data and content.

Content Saturation

The term ‘information overload’ doesn’t seem to cut it anymore. It’s not even an ‘information flood’ because that presumes it’s temporary. It’s more like total immersion. We now live in a frenzy of information like a fish lives in water. We’re dripping wet in the stuff! And that’s why content saturation is such an apt term.

The obvious place to notice is your email inbox. I bragged recently on Facebook about how I deleted over 4000 unread emails in a moment of clarity. I’m still left with thousands more. And, they keep coming at me like those dropping squares in Tetris.

This leads us to the obvious question:

What should we do about Content Saturation?

Is it a case of winning, surviving or running away?

More, More, More

I think content creation is like cars and traffic. All the urban planners in the world know that when we build more roads, we simply attract more cars. The new roads work for a little while before they become clogged also. And, whilst we recognize that cars are fantastic at pollution and roads are costly to build, we’re not about to give up the freedom and mobility they give us. Yes, public transport usage is growing (at least in Melbourne) and I suspect this is as much a reflection of traffic jams as it is for caring for the environment. Simply put, despite the challenges of owning and driving a car, very few of us are willing to give them up.

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Content Saturation is the same. The obvious way to stop it would be to stop producing content. Right? Obvious? The only problem with this is… Are you going to give up your opportunity of a lifetime to produce and distribute your point of view on the internet? I’m not. And, I don’t expect you to either.

So, at least in the foreseeable future, I think we can safely predict three things about content in the near future:

1. More
2. More and…
3. More

Three Things to Overcome Content Saturation

This is the first in a blog post series to help you over come your Content Saturation challenges. Here are three levels to help you tackle the problem:

1. As the audience – how to manage your Information Diet
2. As the content creator – how to create content people will engage with in the sea of competing messages
3. The future – the Content Saturation Solution