There is a dilemma in the digital world, which we explored in some detail in a previous article: digital content on the internet is expanding rapidly.

very much so. Humans have invented a “medium” that can be likened to a large, circular pool where all people with an internet connection gather, and where anyone

can share what they have for others to discover and benefit from.

But the problem is that this pool (the internet) is so vast that it can be difficult to find what you’re looking for. It’s true that humans have also invented a useful way

to help people find what they want: “search engines.” But there are problems with using this tool—which we discussed in the previous article. Here, we’ll try to address

Some practical steps that can help solve the problem.

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1. Re-enable hyperlinks

I could tell you that one solution to this problem can be found in a previous article about repurposing digital content. But the real solution lies in my mentioning the link itself,

Yes, the solution is simply to re-enable hyperlinks—the web’s original feature, present from the very beginning, which was soon neglected and ignored by

many content creators.

Let me explain: when I mention a link to an older article related to the topic in the body of this article, I help bring that old content back to life and give it a fresh

wave of readers. And when a video publisher adds links to related sources or other videos in the description area (below the video), they are

It helps revive other content that may have fallen into a digital coma.

A healthy habit for bloggers and content creators of any kind is to breathe new life into their older work—whether through sidebar banners highlighting featured articles,

roundup guides to previously published material, or simply by linking to older content in new posts. And this shouldn’t be limited to content from the same

source: good, useful links should be shared regardless of who published or wrote them.

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2. Share, Then Share Again

Social networks are an effective way to revive older content. Let me give you a real-world example: more than a year ago, I happened to read a thoughtful blog post

I found it useful, so I clicked the share button and posted it on my Twitter account. Although I have only a few followers, that tweet—

unusually—got good reach and engagement, helping hundreds of people interested in the subject discover that valuable content.

The point isn’t the engagement the tweet received; it’s that the article was old. It had been written years earlier by Ahmed Ajmi on “Aktob,” the free publishing service that

he developed and launched himself. Years later, he decided to shut the site down. Then someone interested in it bought the site and reopened it. By chance, I came across that article,

read it, liked it, and shared it on my Twitter account. And so, after the article had left this world when the site closed, then returned to it, it’s now getting another boost

of readers thanks to a tweet that took a detour.

Another experience I had a few months ago came after I published the in-depth guide and comprehensive plan for learning English. Several months later, I was surprised one day when…

…the site was suddenly buzzing with an unexpected number of visitors. Traffic spiked, and the statistics climbed sharply. When I checked where the visits were coming from, I found they were coming…

…from Twitter. I realized that a well-known Twitter user had shared the page link, and the post had gone viral, bringing in thousands of people within just a few days.

So, sharing links on social networks is a healthy habit—especially when they lead to valuable, useful content, no matter how old it is. Good content…

…doesn’t die; it stays around for everyone who finds it to benefit from.

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3. Rediscovering Content

We can divide the process of producing and publishing digital content into two categories: new content and content that revisits older material. But how does that work? Let me explain.

Here’s an example:

There are many websites offering royalty-free images that can be used freely without any issues. However, many of these sites are not well known, especially

to Arabic-speaking users. They might want images to share with their tweets or stories on Facebook or their blog. To make this easier, several years ago we

published a comprehensive report covering most of these sites, as a guide for anyone looking for free images.

We had, in effect, published content that revisited other content—not so much something new as a signpost to what was already available. Abdulaziz Al-Hammadi does the same.

عبر حسابه في تويتر وموقعه المتخصص في عرض تطبيقات ومواقع الويب المفيدة، كذلك أقوم أنا عبر Blog متخصصة بعرض المصادر والمحتوى

that help people learn English, along with many other efforts aimed at achieving this goal.

There is plenty out there, and the content you’re looking for—or the digital service that meets your needs—is most likely somewhere in this vast digital world.

That’s why we need people to rediscover great content, and lists that point us to specialized resources and services, as well as expertly written posts

based on extensive research and hands-on experience, to help us find the best of what’s available amid the enormous mass of digital content and services.

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4. Good content deserves a worthy home

Just before writing these lines, I was browsing the pages of Mozn, a website that shares content on advancing nonprofit work through technology. The content was

excellent, and so was the template it was presented in. This is one way to honor digital content.

The design, layout, images, and other details that create a distinctive user experience (such as the font and line spacing, etc.) help keep content alive and

thriving. Readers don’t feel as though they’re reading an article written 5 or 10 years ago. On the other hand, even if the content is new and useful, putting it in a

poor layout with disorganized sidebars suggests that it has been neglected and its owner abandoned it long ago.

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5. Efforts by Tech Giants

The previous steps were things that ordinary users or digital content creators could do themselves. But major technology companies are also making efforts.

Companies like Google, Facebook, and others are working to bring content back to life and make it easier for users to find what they’re looking for when searching or browsing.

Google Search continues to evolve, with ongoing improvements to its results. Search is the company’s core asset and the service that launched it and made it well known. Its algorithms, which determine the order of search results,

are becoming increasingly intelligent, with updates rolling out month after month to ensure that the highest-quality and most relevant content rises to the top.

The same is true of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other publishing and social platforms, which are placing greater emphasis on search features and improving them to make it easier

Users should be able to find what they’re looking for and easily dig up old, “buried” content.

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ختاماً …

If we’re talking about this problem while it’s still 2018, what will things be like in 2028 or 2038? What will happen when the amount of content multiplies

many times over and competition intensifies to produce quality content vying for top positions in search results? More solutions will certainly emerge,

and the human drama and vicious cycle of problems arising and solutions being found will continue until God wills the curtain to fall—and the story to begin again.

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المصدر