Bigger does not necessarily mean better. More does not always mean more. Especially if you are measuring something that is not worthwhile keeping track of. How many eye-balls you get on something is a pointless measurement if the right people aren’t seeing it.

How many people consume content is useless if the content is unhelpful or no positive outcome occurs or no action is taken.

Content does not exist for content’s sake, there should be a purpose behind the creation. And, in my mind, that purpose is on a sliding scale:

• Lowest quality purpose: People need to see this so that I am well known
• Middle quality purpose: People need to see this so that my organisation/company is well known
• High quality purpose: People need to see this so that they can get the benefit of what we are offering
• Best quality purpose: People need to see this because it will make the world a better place

All of the above are quality purposes, and whilst I have a specific partiality for the best quality purpose, it is possible to achieve them all at the same time.

Measuring outreach and connection with people en masse creates a false economy if there is no quality purpose that comes of it. Don’t measure the number of people that see your content, measure the number of people that are impacted by it. It is harder to gauge, but worth more than just the total number.