Digital clutter: deliver quantity or quality

There’s so much information around today that I ignore most of it. I’m not alone. There are very few non-business emails I receive that I actually read.

There are only two people on my current list for whom I will stop what I am doing and read: Seth Godin (who sends a daily email) and Jason Calacanis (who sends an irregular but lengthy email). Many people have a similarly small list.

This from Seth Godin:

As digital marketers seek to increase profits, they almost always make the same mistake. They continue to add more clutter, messaging and offers, because, hey, it’s free.

Once you overload the user, you train them not to pay attention. More clutter isn’t free. In fact, more clutter is a permanent shift, a desensitization to all the information, not just the last bit.

More is not always better. In fact, more is almost never better.

If you’re using social media it is tempting to ratchet up the quantity. If you really want to be a tastemaker, or information curator, how about focusing on the quality? Your audience is far more likely to listen, which means they're far more likely to be engaged in what you have to say.