Stock and Flow

Here’s an interesting article by Robin Sloan on “Stock and Flow“:

There are two kinds of quantities in the world. Stock is a sta­tic value: money in the bank, or trees in the for est. Flow is a rate of change: fif­teen dollars an hour, or three-thousand tooth picks a day. Easy. Too easy.

But I actually think stock and flow is the master metaphor for media today. 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 remind people that you exist.

Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the content you pro duce that’s as inter­est ing in two months (or two years?) as it is today. It’s what peo ple dis­cover via search. It’s what spreads slowly but surely, build ing fans over time.

Read the full article: Stock and Flow

(via bobulate)