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More distribution channels
Historically, making content has been expensive (from
production costs to distribution, marketing, and pro-
motion). Distribution was controlled by those who
owned (or could afford) the infrastructure—like a TV
studio, film studio, or publisher. In the past decade,
media equipment and software have become easily
accessible, affordable, and easy to use. The internet
(and mobile devices) have opened up distribution
opportunities that cost little or nothing to content
creators. Crowdfunding has allowed anyone to create
high-quality content with no strings attached. "This
meant that content could not only be created by those
outside the business, but that commercializing this
content became significantly less expensive and risky.
This led to a massive increase in available, indexed, and
distributed content." [1]
Everyone can be a distributor
All content providers have a gatekeeper (a "curator" of
sorts). Music labels have A&R. TV networks have pro-
gramming executives. On the internet, anyone can be a
curator to an audience he/she creates. Actor George Takei
has nearly 10 million followers on a Facebook page where
he writes about himself, shares humorous articles, and
https://redef.com/original/age-of-abundance-how-the-content-explosion-will-invert-the-media-industry
the occasional cat photo. A person (or entity) who has a
significant social media following is called an influencer. A
study by Forrester Research showed that "6.2 percent of
web users are responsible for 80 percent of influence in
social media." [2]
