We are living in a world of dilution. Lots of people are creating lots of content. There are many companies that want to get a hold of that content so they can use it for their own purposes. And those companies won’t pay the original publishers a dime. That’s not a good thing.

One of my favorite books teaches some great lessons that surely apply to publishing content online. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People instructs us to begin with the end in mind. If we follow Stephen Covey’s logic then it is a very good idea to think about how and where we are publishing our content.

Your content is your currency. The content you publish will create your value in the long run. If you give up too much control of your content, spread out your primary publishing locations, then a dilution of your value is taking place. Think about this when you start publishing on the web.

This idea won’t really matter to people who are casual users of the web. And by casual I mean people who aren’t publishing content on a regular basis or aren’t publishing for business purposes. If you have a presence on a social network or two in order to connect with your friends or you upload occasional photos and videos to sites like YouTube or Flickr you are probably receiving good value in exchange for your efforts. If you publish on a regular basis this idea should mean something to you.

Sites like MySpace and Facebook have managed to command huge valuations due to the efforts of their users. The same goes for iTunes, YouTube and Flickr among others. The valuations for these properties are based on the presence and the published content of the site’s users. It can be argued that the sites I’ve mentioned here have provided value to each user in excess of the effort put forth by the user to add their content to the site. These sites have achieved critical mass and thus provide access to very large audiences. These top tier publishing sites also provide tools that simplify online publishing which have helped to create access to the masses. For the serious publisher there is definitely value in having access to a mass audience.

There are many other services that want access to your content. They want you to publish there. They want you to bring your audience to them. Some of these services include Twitter, Disqus and Seesmic about whom there has been much talk in recent months. If you invest your time in these services what will you get out of it? What will they get out of the deal as a result of your efforts there? Are the tools they offer unique? Do they provide access to a mass (and I mean in the millions) audience? These are important issues to consider.

Lately I’ve begun to recognize the importance of not only owning my content and discussions but also the ability to control my content and discussions. The important part of the control factor is the ability to shape my brand around the content I publish as well as having access to monetization options of my choosing. So nowadays when I consider how much (or even if) I should use a service I think about those things. Many of the newer services that the members of the herd are enamored with don’t meet my requirements. So I’m becoming less active on those sites and more active on my own domains.

Begin with the end in mind. Think about how and where you publish your content affects your value and your brand. Weigh the long-term costs and benefits of using third-party services. And as you weigh these issues ask yourself a question. Do you want to be in the business of building value for someone else or for yourself?