A few weeks ago in another SEO conference, I was introduced to the term graphic micro-content and a sudden feeling of deja-vu struck me. It sounded like 2005 all over again. The concept did not sound alien and we could all see the huge demand for a platform that would allow creating and sharing of visual micro-content.
So, what is graphic micro-content?
In a nutshell, graphic micro-content is very similar to a traditional comic strip. It is a mix between ease of short message delivery of twitter coupled with impact and recall value of a comic strip. However, unlike twitter graphic micro-content is organized into a chronological hierarchy very similar to traditional blogging, thus preserving older articles and newer articles in the same timeline.
Due to the short message length and pictorial nature of graphic micro-content, articles presented in this format have a tendency to be shared a lot. In fact, there is a very high potential of graphic micro-content going viral.
Debate365 based out of Toronto, Canada, is a software start up that has made the world's first graphic micro-content creation platform. The company is relatively new, launching the first release of Debate365 sometime in the beginning of 2012.
I had an opportunity to try out the platform with some of my colleagues and the feed back has been nothing but spectacular. The platform is easy to use and offers the core concept of visual micro-content delivery in a simplistic zen-like web 2.0 user interface.
I was pleasantly surprised and pleased to find that you do not require any signup or account setup to use the platform. Debate365 uses facebook as its exclusive authentication channel. This is in line with a growing trend to outsource authentication and identity management to facebook. Besides, who wants to setup yet another account?
In this article I will not go into detail about how to use this platform, there are plenty of videos on the site about how to use the platform. Besides, if you have even basic internet exposure, you would probably be able to create something without referring to any instructions, it is really that simple.
Above is a screenshot I took while creating some sample content.
After you are done creating, the platform allows you to save and share your micro-content. on your facebook.
Here is one I created - Shlep on Shabbos
It is still to be seen how successful Debate365 will become OR if there will be other platforms in the near future that compete with it.
However, what I do know is that graphic micro-content delivery is here to stay and Debate365 has done a remarkable job in creating this platform.
