Stock and flow is an old post from Robin at snarkmarket.
It couldn’t be simpler. There are two kinds of quantities in the world. Stock is a static value: money in the bank or trees in the forest. Flow is a rate of change: fifteen dollars an hour or three thousand toothpicks a day. Easy. Too easy.
But I actually think stock and flow is a useful metaphor for media in the 21st century. 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 these days, for obvious reasons—but I think we neglect stock at our peril.
This was the most challenging and most fun thing about back when I was running CSS-Tricks. There was always tension between two worlds.
One: feeding the day-to-day machine. Be a magazine, a newspaper, or at least an industry rag. Offer something to everyone who wishes to follow something fresh all the time. The beating heart of media. That’s publishing content, but then also feeding the streams. Email, social media, wherever people wanted to listen.
Two: feeding the SEO machine. The vast majority of traffic came from search. Look away from that at your own peril. Even people who enjoy the day-to-day feed probably end up on the site more via search in the end anyway.
So which do you focus more on? I could never decide. One day it felt like SEO is the obvious answer — that’s where the numbers are. But are they? If you are in the advertising and sponsorship business, the traffic numbers are important for stuff like display ads. But that’s not all sponsors want. Your email subs need to be strong too. And your social media following. Just your general brand strength matters too and SEO is only a part of that. Being present in industry conversations matters too.
There really is a (good) tension between stock and flow.
Also, feels related: Rachel Andrew’s Stop treating all of your content as if it were news.