Reading about Content Strategy? Thank a Neuron.
For Brain Awareness Week, I’m getting into the parallels between our brain, ML, and content strategy development.
Building a brand new organization's content strategy is not much different from building neural networks in machine learning for artificial intelligence.
Okay, maybe it’s a little different, but I can’t help but nerd-out when my personal life, which is really just school, intersects with work life.
When I’m not the content manager at C2C, I’m a neuropsychology student pursuing clinical work, and when I’m neither, I love learning about the brain. Anyway, see if you can follow my (remedial) logic here.
Through machine learning languages, artificial intelligence can solve problems. These languages are just code or mathematical equations known as algorithms. Sometimes these are written using a language like Python, which is often used for natural language processing(NLP) and neural networks in deep learning, which is just a subset of machine learning.
In our brains, there are more than 100 billion neurons, and the average adult is estimated to have around 60 trillion neuronal connections. These synaptic (where one neuron connects to another) connections are continually adapting from the sensory inputs they organize to the nutrition we ingest, even the thoughts we think. Why do they continually change when no other cell adapts as nerve cells do? Simple. Survival. It’s through adaption and learning from all the inputs that we persist as a species, our brains run it all. Since I can’t link my textbook, here is a research article for deeper reading.
Anyway, so with all this in mind (ba-dum-tss!), what’s COOL to ME is that NLP and neural networks are just algorithms written to mimic the behavior and functioning of the HUMAN BRAIN. These incredible mathematical geniuses who write these codes also know more about the human brain than I do, and I’m studying it. Cool cool cool.
What we perceive as feeling cold, or hot, or tasting salty or sweet is really just technical code in the form of chemicals moving from one neuron to the next through some really cool processes in atoms (this is a whole other explanation for a whole other day, but if you wanna nerd-out on neuroscience with me, just email me and block off the rest of your day). Much like the way our brains efficiently and continuously experience, learn, and adapt, machines that use neural networks to take in data also experience, learn and adapt. They train themselves to recognize, adapt and predict outcomes based on the data they take in (this data can be anything the programmer/developer tells it to do, so this is where things get dicey. Again, a conversation for another day).
So what the heck do neurons have to do with content and our strategy?
You know that cool moment in team synergy when you start putting out really cool ideas and see them come to life. You don’t even remember whose idea it was anymore because you’re all working so well together and have a shared goal and a strong vision that all that matters is hitting that goal? That’s where we are, and I love it so much.
Sometimes it seems like we’re reading each other’s minds. We don’t need someone to bring the idea, because someone is already working on it.
Our minds are the same way.
Take reflexes, for example. A sensory neuron excites a second sensory neuron in a leg flexion reflex, which excites a motor neuron, which excites a muscle. And that’s how it moves!
If the community is our muscle, we at C2C are the sensory and motor neurons who eventually move you, our muscle. But, this reflex arc depends on successful communication from one neuron to another; if there is an interruption, many things could go wrong, including damaging the neuron, or in our case, our community not sparking conversation and helping build relationships. One cannot exist without the other; one cannot move without the other.
So how do we ensure successful communication to activate our muscles that then move the cloud-verse? Simple. We keep everything flowing between you, the community, and us, the team building it. We need to know what is resonating with you, and you need to know that we hear it. And that is how we build our content strategy. Or at least how I think about it when I’m building and executing.
From Concept to Practice
So how does this communication channel thrive? Well, our strategy is built on both a top-down and bottom-up approach.
Top-down, I look at the Google Cloud universe as a whole, understand what is being discussed, who the influencers and experts are, what they are sharing, shared, and what new features, functionalities, and products are about to change our lives. From there, we as a team build our event and content development programming, and its result is the words you read written by experts and the events you attend filled with ideas and answers.
We also do a lot of cool research and continuous empathy mapping because the key to good content is its educational value.
Although I am discussing the parallels between neural networks and content creation, we are not currently using AI to craft our content creation. But, perhaps it would improve our output efficiency? I’m curious, have you used AI content creation? Let me know!
The bottom-up approach is where our members come in, helping us shape our community.
Anecdotes, comments, and questions during our live events or resource-swapping all help us learn what to build for you. Perhaps they’re an indication of a groundswell of interest in a particular product, so we’ll spin up a Deep Dive or Talk.
As you share your challenges, wins, learnings, we apply them to the bigger picture and work on developing executive-level conversations to bring the customer's voice into the strategic planning.
The connections are endless and the possibilities to continue to connect, learn and shape the future of cloud truly takes the brilliance of the human mind.
As some of you know, I like to read and do enjoy Dickens. Currently, I’m challenging myself to read a book a week, or 52 books for the year. After all, my teachers always told me to write well, read.
If you’re on Good Reads, you can add me here, I’d love to keep up with what you’re reading, too.
Until next time, I leave you with this bittersweet line from the incomparable Emily Dickinson:
I dwell in possibility
What makes you feel like anything’s possible? Let me know!
