Must-Read: Tim Carmody (2010): Stock and Flow

Must-Read: Tim Carmody (2010): Stock and Flow: “Stock and flow is the master metaphor for media today… http://snarkmarket.com/2010/4890

…Here’s what I mean:

• Flow is the feed. It’s the posts and the tweets. It’s the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that reminds people you exist.
• Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the content you produce that’s as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It’s what people discover via search. It’s what spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time….

Flow is ascendant… but we neglect stock at our own peril… both in terms of the health of an audience and, like, the health of a soul. Flow is a treadmill…. One day you’ll get off and look around and go: oh man. I’ve got nothing here…. I’m not saying you should ignore flow! No: this is no time to hole up and work in isolation, emerging after long months or years with your perfectly-polished opus. Everybody will go: huh? Who are you? And even if they don’t—even if your exquisitely-carved marble statue of Boba Fett is the talk of the tumblrs for two whole days—if you don’t have flow to plug your new fans into….

You can tell that I want you to stop and think about stock here. I feel like we all got really good at flow, really fast. But flow is ephemeral. Stock sticks around. Stock is capital. Stock is protein. And the real magic trick in 2010 is to put them both together…