Web Content Is Like Quidditch: The Game

It’s yet another installment of my blog series on how Web content is like Quidditch. If you’ve missed the first three posts, you can catch up here:

Post 1: How Quidditch is Played, and what are bludgers/obstacles?

Post 2: Who are the chasers (creators) and keepers (curators) in content?

Post 3: The golden snitch of content – how do you catch it?

In this post, I’d like to take a look at the structure of the game of Quidditch itself. Because what makes Quidditch successful in the wizarding world makes content successful in the marketing world.

Here are some important things to note about how Quidditch is played

• There is no time limit – the game continues until the golden snitch is caught
• Both sexes play – on the same team
• It’s a global phenomenon. Wizards come from around the globe to watch their favorite teams play in the Quidditch World Cup
• It’s what people in the wizarding world are talking about

Web content is also a game. It’s a game that marketers and users play together. Here are some similarities.

• We shouldn’t set a time limit on great content. It’s about when the user wants/needs to see it, it’s not only about when Mozilla thinks the user should see it. Some of the short-term campaigns that Mozilla runs are great examples. There is all of this splendid content, and we put it up in a temporary location for a few months, and then *poof!* it goes away, never to be seen again. For SEO (search engine optimization) junkies, this is also hurting your SEO. Archives are a great way to combat this, or results pages from short-term initiatives.
• Content should be all-inclusive. Mozilla is an equal-opportunity content creator!
• Content should be global! And I don’t necessarily mean that content should be merely translated into different languages. I propose that enthusiastic Mozilla volunteers from around the globe can be content creators. Let’s give them the message, and let them use their own idioms, catch-phrases, etc. to get that message across in that language! (PS: do you want to help? Leave a comment!)
• Content should be relevant. Go where the users are. What are they talking about? Find a way to create content that easily inserts itself into those conversations.

There’s one more Quidditch post to come. It deals with the all important subject of keeping score!