I believe there are two kinds of value people can create:

  1. First-class value, original thought, argument, commentary, the creative production of new ideas, images, sounds, and words.
  2. Derivative value, the filtering and aggregation of first-class value, through linkblogs, retweets, and content aggregation services

Derivative value is necessary, but think about your role-models, the people who admire, those you aspire to be. Which kind of value are they creating?