Content Trap: A Strategist's Guide to Digital Change | Study Guide

The Internet became available for use by the general public in the early 1990s, and since then, it has brought enormous changes to the media, entertainment, and advertising industries. An early concept that drove digital business transformations was "content is king." The Internet was seen as a nearly empty space that needed to be filled with content, and thus content-producing businesses stood to gain enormously, or so the conventional wisdom held. However, it was also apparent that the Internet could distribute content that was free and cheap, potentially threatening content-producing businesses. The conventional wisdom for dealing with digital transformation was to focus even more on content—improve it, protect it, and fight piracy.

In The Content Trap, author Bharat Anand challenges the conventional wisdom. He calls the focus on content "the Content Trap." Using research and case studies, he shows how some content businesses succeeded by focusing on connections rather than content. Anand identifies three types of connections: user connections, product connections, and functional connections. He then shows how certain content-producing businesses have successfully navigated the Internet age. Finally, Anand claims that the lessons of these content companies apply to other industries as well. Whether or not it produces content, any company can manage its digital transformation by focusing primarily on connections.