This week you might want to get ahead of the tsunami of heart-themed stuff on the way, and ask what your own heart needs to go on. Lots of folks have been knocked about lately by layoffs and other even less lovely things, so a few extra good vibes are in order right now. Fortunately, it's not hard to get restocked, if you know how. Here are some vibe moves you can try: Sit your butt on the floor. Wiggle your toes in your shoes. Wander around in some woods. Bury your face in the fur of your best cat or dog. Breathe in, breathe out.
This is not another hot take on whether content AI is here for our jobs, whether it's the best thing ever or the end of the world. Let's just take it as read that this is happening, okay? That it's already here. A new day has already begun.
The real question is, now that we've got AI, what are we gonna to do with it.
I'll take a quick break while you click on that link and dance it on out.
Honestly? I feel the same way about content AI as I did about Web 2.0. I’m extremely intrigued. It feels like Web 2.0 in the potential it has for leveling the playing field, for democratizing some important things, for helping folks who aren't the greatest "writers" get their good ideas out there.
I know. That's not even remotely what it's known for just yet. But the seeds are all there. And some tools are actually aiming for that.
It's also like Web 2.0 in how there's a lot of potential for swamping the world with bad content, for hella bad actors, and for all sorts of exploitative behavior making things worse.
So we know that already. There's massive potential for good and for bad.
Here's what I think we should do.
Web 2.0 was all about technology that opened things up, that shifted the balance from the few to the many. In the early days of inbound marketing, we liked to say it's not the size of your wallet, it’s the size of your brain.
I’d love for this one to be about the size of your heart.
The human heart is what's always made any writing worth reading at all. That's been true for ages, and it's still true today. Keeping the heartbeat of great stories alive is what writers and editors have always done.
We put our hearts in our writing, and we keep it in there. Just because AI has come trotting along doesn't mean we start abdicating that responsibility now. We're the designated humans in the room. We're still on the hook for the quality of the content we put into the world.
So how can we show up as the humans we are?
When we first started documenting the brand voice at my last company, we used four simple words to describe it. Those four words were a crystallization of our values, which we then translated into a brand voice. Values, as we all know, come from the heart.
So voice guidance can be a good place to start. In the years since that project, I've come up with some voice guidelines of my own. They're my starting point for editing what I'm working on, for making sure it's aligned with my own values and voice.
I don't see that changing, whether I'm editing my own work, somebody else's, or something I worked up with the help of an AI. My job as a writer and editor hasn't changed. I still have to ask myself:
Helpful content is focused on solving a real reader's need. Does this piece of writing do that? Does this content really help them? Or does it only help us — my company, my business goals, or just me? Does it only go part of the way in helping the reader? What's missing? What doesn't work?
Am I showing up in this writing as the person I mean to be in the world? Is the language inclusive, accessible, ethical, fair? Am I making cultural assumptions that exclude any readers? Would I be proud to show this to my favorite teacher, mentor, or childhood friend? Would my dog be proud of me for writing this? (ooh, that's a high bar.)
Am I humble enough to have checked all my facts? Is everything in here all actually true? Defensible? Honest? Fair? Is my reasoning sound? Does my argument make sense on good rhetorical grounds? Have I poked holes in my own theories, allowed for the very real possibility that I could be wrong?
Some of this doubles up on the Human gut check above, but it's worth double checking. Have I been too clever at the expense of clarity? Is my love of quirkiness getting in the way of serving the reader's actual need? Have I made any jokes at someone else's expense? Would Kermit ever say this? (Yes, yes, that's another high bar.)
I ask these questions of my own writing. I ask them when I edit other people's work. Same goes for AI.
I bring the heart to my writing. Me. That's my job. I still have to do that, whoever I work with, whatever tool I might use.
Our jobs as writers hasn't changed in the least. We're still called on to show up as the deep, complex, heartfelt humans we are. We still have to show up with our values and voices in full effect.
As long as we keep doing that, I think we'll all be okay.
Vibes, as in good vibes, was largely a linguistic invention of the 1960's. But apparently the sense of "vibrations" meaning an "intuitive signal about a person or thing" goes back to 1899. And now I can't stop thinking about some blue-spectacles-wearing Belle Epoque artiste slinking into my favorite cafe and doing a crossword in pen. It's, like, a whole vibe.
In case you missed the chance for a Heavy D dance party before, here's that link again. Get up and dance. You'll be so glad you did.
This made the rounds a while ago, but I rediscovered it this week and found it soothing and fun. What kind of creative are you? (Quiz)
Cassandra was doomed to see the future but never to have her prophecies believed. I'm not making any predictions today. But I do think Cassandra looks pretty badass here. And she's got hearts on her shield! What's on your shield?
Hearts? Hiking boots? Tacos? Whatever it is, lead with it.