Visual Content: An Indexing Challenge
December 4, 2015
The average bounce rate on blogs for new visitors is 60.2%, and the average reader stays only 1 to 2 minutes on your website. One way to get people to really engage with your content is to use a tool like Roojoom, which is a content curation and creation platform.
Here’s one example from the write up:
Roojoom lets you collect content from your online and offline sources (such as your web pages, videos, PDFs and marketing materials) to create a “content journey“ for readers. You then guide readers step by step through the journey,all from within one centralized place. I read “5 Visual Content Tools to Boost Engagement.” The write up points to a handful of services which generate surveys, infographics, and collages of user supplier photos. If I knew a millennial, I can imagine hearing the susurration of excitement emitted by the lad or lass.
Now I don’t want to rain on the innovation parade. Years ago, an outfit called i2 Group Ltd. developed a similar solution. After dogging and ponying the service, it became clear that in the early 2000s, there was not much appetite for this type of data exploration. i2 eventually sold out to IBM and the company returned to its roots in intelligence and law enforcement.
The thought I had after reading about Roojoom and the other services was this:
How will the information be indexed and made findable?
As content become emoji-ized, the indexing task does not become easier. Making sense of images is not yet a slam dunk. Heck, automated indexing only shoots accurately 80 to 90 percent of the time. In a time of heightened concern about risks, is a one in five bet a good one? I try to narrow the gap, but many are okay without worrying too much.
As visual content becomes more desirable, the indexing systems will have to find a way to make this content findable. Words baffle many of these content processing outfits. Pictures are another hill to climb. If it is not indexed, the content may not be findable. Is this a problem for researchers and analysts? And for you, gentle reader?
Stephen E Arnold, December 4, 2015
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