Image by Joyseph

Smirkability…  it’s totally underrated.  And, it could be the key to your success as an on-line content creator.

In blogging, as an example, we want to be:

• Helpful
• Useful
• Entertaining
• Not boring (at the bare minimum)

These are all worthy goals.  However, there’s a nexus of edges, a G-spot (sorry, I meant sweet spot), a hidden niche that enough people aren’t exploiting that could make your content creation dreams explode into reality.  It’s that space where the riches lie, my friend.

It’s the Smirkable zone, where smirkability runs high and lips curl at the sides of mouths.

This concept is visualized in the following chart:

It’s simple, really.  There’s a space where funny is funny, but not too funny and information is interesting but not TOO interesting. You get some emotion, but not enough to overpower your self-control. This is the zone of smirkability.

Let’s face is: social media is all about transparency, but it has it’s limits. After all, when we see strangers laugh out loud (key concept – LOLness) for no apparent reason we get, well, nervous. Like maybe their radio dial is tuned to the crazy channel or something.

After all, what makes you feel more comfortable, seeing this:

Image by Ollie Crafoord

Or this?

Image by juhansonin

Smirkability is very practical.  You can get decent enjoyment and information out of smirkable content without drawing attention to yourself.  Just think of the last five Dilbert cartoons you read.  Did they make you laugh out loud?  Probably not.  You probably smiled or smirked and, knowing Scott Adams, you probably learned something about science or business, even if you weren’t expecting it.

Smirkability is a stealth weapon in  your content creation arsenal, something that your competitors, I mean peers, probably won’t expect.  They keep trying to write the biggest, baddest, most powerful, etc. posts.  Try the different tack. Go funny or emotional, but not not enough for guffaws or tears.   Same for the info content – kinda interesting, kinda useful…  great stuff for idle conversation when you’re tired of talking about Twitter, Facebook, and social media in general.

Smirkability – the undiscovered country.

Just remember, if it’s smirkable, you’ll look smarter than anyone else, even if you’re the only one that knows. And that’s what counts, right?

Other posts that you might enjoy reading:

• How Saturday morning musings can make some of the best posts
• Why do you blog if not for money?
• Why does the world need another blog topics post?
• Why do media force dumbed down communication?
• Ten things that I’m not going to do today