Marc Strohlein, an analyst at Outsell, proposed an interesting value model for web content . He proposed that unlike most value chains, the web ecosystem has a de-value chain with the most valuable contributions taking place at the front of the value chain and the “snarks” at the tail end. His model consists of the following contributors:

1. The Originators – Individuals or organizations that create new content for the web.
2. The Elaborators - Individuals that transmit and analyze the original content. While elaborators arenot contributing the initial content, they are calling attention to original content and providing additive value.
3. The Synthesizers - Individuals that bring together disparate viewpoints. These may be mashups or other aggregators. Synthesizers may not be adding analysis into the mix.
4. The Snarks - Individuals at the tail end of the value chain who provide little value to the conversations. According to Strohlein, the snarks are often disparging in their attitude and lazy in their spelling.

For illustrative purposes,let’s take a look at how OneSourceis partcipating in this value chain, and then lay outa few questions you can review tobetter understand howyou are participating.

• We began as a synthesizer. We aggregate content from over fifty global datasources and tie them together via our OneSource Global Business Taxonomy. This synthesis includes both structured content (e.g.company financials, family trees) and unstructured content (e.g.analyst reports, industry market research).
• As originators, our editors build company databases for the US, Canada, and UK. Our editors also contribute paragraph-length business descriptions, profile the top global companies and write biographies. Furthermore, our editors continuouslymonitor the news andupdate ourprofiles to reflect dynamic information such as executive changes and M&A transactions.
• We play an elaborator role on this Insight Blog where weour core objective is to expound on research resources, processes,and trends. In other words, we are lookingto add valuethrough aconversation with business professionals.
• Hopefully, our clients don’t find us to be snarky – this sentence excluded

So, Are You Adding Value or Noise?

Hopefully, in your respective professional roles, you are operating towards the front-end of the information value chain even if you are not postingoriginal content for your organization. Ask yourself the following questions:

• When forwarding articles, are you adding to the conversation bycontributing context to the discussion (elaboration)? Do you synopsize the article,call out key points (synthesis), or simply write “FYI”? Of course, there are instances where you know an article is valuable to others in your organization, but you may not be the right person to comment on it.
• Do you fight the urge to simply forward whatever catches your fancy (i.e. fight being a snark)?
• Do you broadcast your e-mails or target them to the individuals who will benefit (proper filtering is a form of synthesis)?
• If you are a customer facing employee, are you passing along competitive information and industry observations to management (origination, elaboration, or synthesis),or simply focusing on your direct job responsibilities?
• If you are in an internally focused operations, development, or support role, are you identifying opportunities for process improvementsor implementing new technologies (originator)?
• When problems arise, is your first impulse to point fingers (snarkiness) or solve the problem and identify the root cause afterwards (origination)?
• Do you add your perspective to internal discussion boards and wikis (origination and elaboration) or simply leave that to others?

Even if you are not providing a web-based service, a similar set of analyses can be performed on your web-facing operations.Is your corporate blog blatantly self-promotional or does it strive to have a conversation with your customers, prospects, influencers, and partners? Does your website provide tools (e.g. whitepapers, best practice primers, ROI calculators) or simply list your products, services, executives, and contact information?