The internet has become so prevalent in our lives that it’s easy to voice your “expert” opinion. Blogs in particular have become outlets for people to add their two cents to a topic that has already been thoroughly discussed and analyzed. The online echo, as named and written about by Carlos Miceli (among others), then becomes part of the collective conventional wisdom surrounding a topic.

I don’t want to say if the echo is good or bad exactly. I want to examine why it exists in the first place. What drives the echo? And where does it come from?  Why do so many blogger regurgitate what other have already said?

In this post I want to explore the economics behind the echo. Specifically looking at the incentives explaining the phenomenon.

The Online Echo Explained

Carlos does a good job at his blog Owl Sparks to question the conventional wisdom.  This is why I feel he is a great “spokesman” for the online echo.  Carlos has two main posts that address the online echo, so I don’t want to be a part of the echo and repeat what he said.  But for this post I want to give a really quick primer.

The online echo is the result of people, specifically bloggers , reading  blog posts, magazines, news articles, or whatever, paraphrasing the content on their blog, adding their own spin, then calling it good.  Carlos’ problem with this is that the paraphrasing or echoing replaces asking and creating.  Carlos says, “we consume data instead of poise questions.”  I totally agree with Carlos’ comments, but as a student of economics I have a hard time blaming people that echo information.  There is an underlying reason for the online echo.

Why Does The Echo Exist

The echo exists because of incentives.  Most economists will tell you that incentives pretty much run the world.  The way incentives are positioned will explain why things are the way they are.

One huge incentive I have seen for the online echo is this: blogs are a career advancement tool.  To test this statement I googled, “blogs are good for your career.”  88,700,000 results popped up, showing that many people believe in the power of blogging as a career tool.  One of Penelope Trunk’s posts was near the top.   In that post she stated, “blogging is good for your career.  A well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field.”

With this widely held belief, it is obvious why bloggers paraphrase and regurgitate.  If you aren’t really an expert in your field, your incentive is to paraphrase other content, passing it off as your own.  This is done because you want to show people that could offer you a job or ask for your consulting service, that you are knowledgeable, smart, an expert. Some say a blog is your online resume. If you are treating it as such, either explicitly or implicitly, then the incentives are aligned in a such a way to make echoing appealing.

If you are getting job or consulting opportunities from your blog you have had the incentive to echo information. Its as simple as that. Echoing is the easiest and fastest way to build content.

Now that information and content is so abundant the incentives are aligned so that critical thought and questioning is looked at more as a chore, than a way to further knowledge and understanding.

In short, it is far easier to be a consumer than it is to be a producer. And more of what we do produce is just repackaging what was previously consumed.

A post by Frank Chimero has an interesting take on consuming and producing.  Frank makes a great and seemingly obvious point, that producing is work.  And work is hard.  He says, “You have to organize your ideas and sweat on the page until something good shows up.”  Frank also mentions how that it’s a great time to be a producer with all the different blogging platforms.  He goes on to say that this accessibility is a cause of copying, but adds this caveat, “looking at other people’s work is usually done in lieu of actually working, and seeks to find relevant, borrowed solutions from other people’s different tasks, problems and processes.”  Obviously the online echo has it’s good and bad consequences

What is the Solution to The Online Echo?

In one of Carlos’ post that I referred to earlier he had a suggestion about what he prefers to echoing. Carlos simply wants more referring. This is what I’ve attempted to do with my Weekly Endorsements: recommending a post that I admire and/or was something I was thinking about writing. Carlos’ logic is that if you have nothing new to say, don’t paraphrase.

Carlos goes on to say that he gets less recognition, but says that shouldn’t be the main goal.

I agree with his feelings and I wish things were that way. I just think it wont happen unless the incentives change. And right now the incentives are to impress others with what you know.  The path of least resistance is to paraphrase.

Another barrier to original content is a little something economics is based off: scarcity.  In this case time to read other posts, knowledge about a topic, and brain capacity to know what everyone in the blogosphere has written is scare.

With that said I think Carlos’ point is that if you know about a post that is about something you’ve thought of writing, then its more beneficial for you to defer and refer.

One possible solution I can envision is for each one of “us” as consumers of information to hold producers accountable.  For example, if I read something new by author X and the material is very similar to something by author Z, then I can let author X know about author Z by referring.  We can use our collective knowledge to help inform others so that echoing is minimized.  Or if author X is super responsible he/she could send a tweet asking if a post on Y has already been written.

I don’t foresee a big change in the online echo though.  With blogging being such a great way to be noticed to employers and the ease it takes to paraphrase and not be critical, change will be difficult.  Incentives are very powerful, and the way I see the incentives aligning is for the echo to grow.

My question to you is does the online echo matter?  Is it good or bad?  Can it be stopped?  What’s your take on this?

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