Modern online writing, simply put, is content creation. There is an unstoppable need for content online. News articles come out daily and content writer’s sole focus is to create the media we consume. Gary Vaynerchuk once said, “Content is king, but context is God.” Understanding the audience and the context of the subject matter can create more effective writing. Context leads readers to what they read. Content is viewed by an audience that can be broken into subgroups of people, with a common like or dislike of said content. They consume it, criticize it, come back to it. That last part is important – they come back. Context is what keeps the reader engaged (besides writing skill of course, and expressionism as we discussed in an earlier blog entry).
“First, you’ve got to respect your platforms. Respect the psychology of what people are doing when they’re on the platform. I know a forty-year-old woman is in a different mindset when she’s on Facebook than when she’s on Pinterest. And that is how I storytell to her. I know on Pinterest she has intent to shop and on Facebook she’s keeping up with her world. So, I strategize around that: the psychology and the platform itself (Gary Vaynerchuk)”. This is what is meant by context. Understanding your audience as a content creator much in same way as in UX Design, we need to understand who users are and what their needs are to create digital products that fit the context in which users would need these tools.
Understanding the importance of these independent pieces of the writing skill puzzle is crucial to becoming a good writer. It helps us become writers at a professional level and evolve creatively with changing trends and audience. “Whenever writers use a quote or a fact from some source, it becomes necessary to provide their readers some information about the source, to give context to its use. This piece of information is called context. Context illuminates the meaning and relevance of the text, and may be something cultural, historical, social, or political (literarydevices.net)”. Context for a subject in an article for example, can help readers understand what the basics of the subject, or must knows are. News articles usually give context into ongoing or live events to keep readers and viewers informed on the progress of a situation. Without context however, information can be manipulated to create bias or dissent in media, or any social outlet or establishment.
To create a complete perspective on any given subject, context is crucial. When the reader knows the why’s, who’s, and how’s they can make more informed judgments on the subject they are reading about.
Sources
Vaynerchuk, G. (2021, May 6). Content is king, but context is god. TNW | Insider. Retrieved November 11, 2021, from https://thenextweb.com/news/gary-vee-content-king-context-god.
literarydevices.net. Context – examples and definition of context. Literary Devices. (2016, December 29). Retrieved November 22, 2021, from https://literarydevices.net/context/.
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