Being a writer for most of my working life, I have striven to understand the requirements and interests of readers. Understanding the audience influences the type of writing I use, and the topics I cover change. Instructional material is one thing – guiding the users of a Microsoft Word platform on how to copy and paste text is an example of a reader requirement.

Over the years, however, I have seen the description content creator become more frequent. I must confess, I still do not know what that means. Yes, I am well aware that writing involves more than just text. Images, audiovisual presentations, podcasts, audio, webinars – all these are now part and parcel of good writing.

The term content creator sounds like a corporate buzzword, intending to obscure rather than inform. Keeping things concise and easy to understand is the hallmark of an effective writer.

The days of taking your manuscript to a publisher, and sweating over the outcome of its reception, are long gone. The writer must have a say on the design, book over, graphics, data analytics of a potential audience – these are new tasks. However, you are not a content creator; you are still a writer.

The world of Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat has changed the ways writers interact with the reading public. That is great – having direct access to a reader audience is wonderful. However, do not be dragged into the cesspit of acting as a social media influencer. There is a profusion of influencers – I say misinformation peddlers – who are damaging the reputation of writers by circulating all kinds of conspiracy fictions, hyper-weaponised memes and content that belongs in the sewage.

Writers do appreciate larger audiences, but they are mainly aiming for credibility. The latter is difficult to find on social media.

Language emptied of any meaning

We are all aware of the ubiquity of corporate buzzwords. A particular type of jargon, corporate buzzwords are a way of making adults seem like grownups, in the words of Olga Khazan. The terms such as ‘innovation’, ‘disruption’, ‘synergies’, – all of them have meanings which we are meant to discern. While every profession has its jargon, corporate buzzwords are often euphemisms, deployed to disguise an ugly reality beneath them.

Mass layoffs are described as ‘pivots’; the closure of departments is described as a company ‘synergising its ongoing trajectories into operational capabilities’ – you get the idea. The rise of the tech giants – Apple, Google, Microsoft and the Silicon Valley behemoths – has produced its IT-related buzzwords. They have seeped into other industries, including sales and marketing, where the content creator originated.

Job descriptions are becoming more vague and yet grandiose. Content creator is one of those vague, yet grand-sounding jobs. The position of a salesperson can be recycled as a customer happiness enhancement officer. Corporate buzzwords make harsh realities sound softer. Lora Kelley, writing in The Atlantic, states that corporate buzzwords are euphemistic bubble wrap.

Language that is hollowed out, denuded of all meaning – corporate buzzwords then become their own reality. The market has earned a place as a hallowed ground, where all participants – sellers, buyers, workers, owners, corporations, small business entrepreneurs – are equal actors in an economic utopia. Obscured beneath the all encompassing term ‘market’, or indeed ‘free market’, is a network of social relations determining the power relationships in that market.

The word privatisation entered the public lexicon from the 1970s and 80s, a euphemism for the transfer of state assets into private hands. The pursuit of private corporate profit was disguised with positive-sounding buzzwords – ‘efficiency’ and ‘reform’. Even the word ‘austerity’ has a positive connotation to it. Who but only the cantankerous would be against spending within our means, and cutting back profligate spending? Privatisation has ended up one of the worst money-wasting scams of our times.

While most working class people can see that privatisation is a trick, it is still relentlessly pushed by political elites. The euphemistic bubble wrap is part of the package, softening public opinion for the final blow. No, I am not suggesting that people are fools – far from it. But if the corporate buzzwords take over the conversation surrounding socioeconomic issues, then people will be convinced to acquiesce to foolish things.

Monetisation is another of those corporate buzzwords that has taken off in the IT era. Blogging and content creation for the purpose of turning a buck is all well and good. But what happens when large tech companies, who have collected all our data, use that information for monetisation? Big tech is quite aware of a mental health crisis gripping the population. Should they use that to monetise our data? They are doing that already. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, stated that his corporation’s biggest contribution to humanity will be in the area of health.

The rise of the content creator is, in its own way, confirmation of the power of words. In the days before the internet and social media, it was novels, literature and books that disseminated the words of the author. If words were not powerful or impactful, then institutions such as the CIA would not have spent billions of dollars financing writers and publications to propagate its business-friendly message to the world.

Please be a content creator if that is your passion. We all have to adapt to changing times. But do not lose the value of insights from the past. AI may be a necessary accompaniment for copywriters, editors and content creators, but it can never be a substitute for human creativity and credibility.