I’ve made a horrendous mistake; I’ve forced myself into considering one of those dark questions and I desperately need your help to reach a conclusion on it. Or, wait! Do I even need the opinions of others to make up my own opinion? Do I need your input? Crikey, I’m back where I started again.

Let’s get this question party started…

Let me explain. Working in the digital sphere and with a great number of writers/consumers of content among my friends, “sharing” has become a staggeringly-important part of my life.  My attention was drawn to this fact when my colleague – the lovely Matt Gardner – IM’d me the link to an amusing web mock-up of a certain newspaper’s front page the other day. The point is, this piece of data had come full circle and was now being returned back to me. I myself had received it by IM, emailed it to my friend, she had posted it on Facebook, it had been liked by someone else, along the line Matt had been sent it (via Twitter for all I know) and now it was neatly being returned to me – on the basis it was something I would find amusing. (I did, and that’s why I’d passed it on in the first place).

I’m far more likely to read an article my friend has liked or posted a link to, on the basis I know it’s probably going to be of interest to me. So, this got me thinking: is all this ‘sharing’, digging, liking and retweeting finely honing the information I receive, or is it stopping me from stumbling across better things? I’m essentially judging whether content is worth being consumed on the basis of someone else’s judgement – a communicatory review.

Are ratings ruining your life?

This leads me neatly to my next point, or rather the point of another writer, Chris Colin. Writing for US Wired last month http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/07/st_essay_rating/, Mr Colin, like me, rather distressingly pondered what good all this sharing is doing us. Working around the concept of “what’s wrong with the culture of magazine critique” and talking about the process of reviewing, Mr Colin said all of our sharing of opinions via social media platforms and digital media interactivity has resulted in life “getting a little ruined in the process”. The thrust of his argument was that we have come to rely on the ratings of others to help inform our decisions, whether this is buying a product online based on reviews, visiting a restaurant (or not) based on online recommendations and ultimately – and this is the bit that has me in a tizzle – consuming content on the basis it has been rated by others.

Like me, like me, no really – press that button, like me!

According to a recent report by Broadgate Mainland, the number of hits a story receives has become the most popular measure of success among journalists. In addition, 81 per cent of those polled are engaging on a regular basis with their digital readers; an audience that judges their work, which often has the option to rate it through widgets or comments and may choose to pass it on to others (another level of judgement). Here at Epiphany we are all about sharing. The Epiphany philosophy is centred around one word – “remarkable” – and thus having content remarked upon is something to strive for.

As the founder member of the company’s copywriting team I must say I’m starting to feel the pressure on this front. A successful blog for the company measured with this group of criteria is judged by the number of hits it gets and the number of times it is shared, as well as the interaction it provokes. This brings to my mind the age old question: If a writer crafts an excellent article, but nobody comments on it/shares it/likes it, is it still an excellent article? (OK, there’s something about a tree falling in the woods in the original saying this is an homage to, but this works better for me).

If no-one views your work, or shares it, does that make it less valid? Sadly, on this level, the answer has got to be yes. Writers are often dictators in disguise; we are dying to influence the minds of as many people as possible and seeing these tiny ‘like’ buttons play directly into our precariously-balanced egos; we have an audience. Just like a comedian desperate for the laugh, digital writers just want you to like me, like me, like me. (No seriously, press the button now please).

So, now the final hurdle, this is the deep bit…

Having weighed up the convenience of online ranking, rating and reviewing and how it helps me make choices in everyday life, I’m now left musing – like Mr Colin – about whether all of this sharing and taking other’s opinions on board is enhancing my life. I’m genuinely wondering whether it is saving me time, potentially stopping me from getting food poisoning, enhancing my knowledge base according to my pre-defined interests. Or, is it actually limiting my world view; preventing me from discovering my new favourite restaurant and narrowing the field and type of content I consume, and ultimately… devaluing the decisions I make? So, over to you, what are your thoughts? I can’t promise I’ll take them on board, but I’ll definitely give them a look.

PS: Like me, like me, follow me @fayBerg on Twitter.

(Photo: Search engine land)