Content Development, Marketing, and Consumption

Filtered Versus Raw Content in Freelance Writing

Both are important for different readers. Writers and editors play an essential role in the process.

Introduction

Quality is a point that many readers, writers, and editors offer opinions on. It is a widely discussed topic of content development, marketing, and consumption process. Rather than fact, quality is only an opinion in this context.

As readers, what we characterize as high or low quality may differ from other people. We should accept that the notion of quality is subjective to readers' preferences.

The terms high and low quality are used to judge preference for reading a piece of content. Not having an understanding of a topic and not having an interest in a subject does not mean that the content is low quality. This misconception is common.

Most of the time, what is characterized as low quality means that the readers do not have the knowledge and skills to understand the topic, or they don’t have an interest. In the end, this is a moot point that fails to judge a piece of content as quality or not.

For example, as a reader, I don’t have much interest in politics, and my knowledge of details in this domain is limited. By wearing my writer and editor hats, I deliberately choose not to be arrogant for judging stories that I don’t understand — especially the ones written with raw content development approach — as low quality or spam.

As an editor, I noticed that many stories written with raw style in politics gained substantial reader exposure, and some of them even went viral.

However, there are fundamental points that most of us agree on quality content. These points usually relate to the presentation and ethics rather than the actual content. For example, not many of us will consider a story on a hate speech as high quality even written in a stylish language.

In this post, I aim to point out the differences between filtered and raw content from three key aspects: reader, writer, and editor.

The basis of my approach is from reading, writing, and editing perspectives. I use two publications as examples to articulate my points. The points reflect my opinions stemming from my experience in the field.

Reader Aspect

I learned that some readers preferred only raw content. They wanted the content to be natural. Their request was not heavily edited, preferably written in daily language. These types of readers wanted unedited and uncensored content directly coming from the heart and spirit of the writers.

The structure and style can usually be informal in raw content.

I want to strongly point out that raw content does not necessarily mean low quality. The reason for highlighting this point comes from reflections of filtered content lovers.

From my experience, I find out that thousands of readers prefer raw content.

When I was analyzing the reader requirements, the patterns were distinct.

For example, I identified over 10,000 readers who prefer raw content from the writers of a publication I lead, ILLUMINATION. Therefore, to cater to the needs and desires of this reader group, I give flexibility to writers to submit content in daily language and informal style.

What does filtered content mean?

I would characterize filtered content as curated and edited using a set of criteria.

By using the editorial criteria, the content may change its format and even narrative. In other words, editors can transform the content beyond the writer's intention.

For example, the language can become more formal, and the content can become more structured. This editorial input is necessary to delight a specific reader group. However, the exercise can be costly.

I identified that the topics of filtered content usually apply to a broader audience. This means that there is a higher acceptance rate for filtered content, especially by discerning readers.

For example, the audience for my other publication, ILLUMINATION-Curated, prefers filtered content. To meet the demands of this unique reader group, I strive to provide edited and curated content.

Let me elaborate on these points (raw and filtered content) by looking at three aspects: writer, reader, and editor.

1 — Writers Perspective

Some writers write from the heart. They pay less attention to structure. The words flow freely in their articles. They use daily language, usually with “I statements” reflecting their thoughts, sentiments, and experience. I would characterize these writers as raw content developers.

Unlike raw content developers, filtered content developers produce more structured content using formal language. They narrate using the viewpoints of others with “he, she, they statements,” elaborating the topic with citations.

Some writers use the hybrid model, meaning both raw and filtered approaches. It is possible to see the hybrid model in a single story. Or some writers use the raw content delivery model in some stories and filter in others.

There is an audience for the hybrid model too.

2 — Editor’s Perspective

Editors serve as the bridge between writers and readers.

The purpose of an editor is to delight the reader by providing customized content aligning with their preferences. Editors know that some readers prefer raw and others prefer filtered content.

Editors also consider the topics for these two types of content development and delivery models.

Topics in scientific and technology fields usually require a filtered approach. Facts are more important than thoughts and opinions in science and technology. In contrast, anecdotes play a more distinct role in self-development topics.

As a practicing editor, my focus is to give a pleasant reading experience to our readers. I aim to appeal to as many readers as possible by being flexible and by offering more options on multiple topics.

It is a fundamental duty of an editor to inform the writers about the preferences of readers because editors perform a bridging role in content development and marketing life-cycle.

As an editor, I know that gold comes with dust. It is not possible to find gems in the air; they are hidden under the soil and are usually hard to harvest.

I reflect this awareness in two publications that I am responsible for their strategies. Based on reader profiles, whilst allowing more raw content in one publication, I strive to offer a more filtered range in another.

To help the writers, I guide how to create filtered content for a selected audience.

As editors, we plant our metaphorical service tree. It is not wise to expect only perfect fruit from a tree. There will be occasional spoiled fruits. We cannot kill our trees because of a few rotten fruits.

Conclusions

In this story, I attempted to show the differences between two content types — raw and filtered. Both content types are essential for serving different purposes and audiences.

As readers, being aware of our preferences and consuming content with this understanding can help us to be more tolerant readers. If we don’t like the type of content, we don’t read it. Judging a piece of content as low quality or spam does not add any value.

As writers, understanding the preferences of our readers can help us to choose and customize our delivery model. Our ultimate goal is to make our readers happy.

As editors, we need to make a conscious effort to understand the needs and wants of readers and inform the writers for the audience groups of the publishing process and venture.

There is a need and market for both raw and filtered content.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

If you enjoyed this story, you might also check my experience on other topics.

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