• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, October 1, 2012

Coming off of OMMA Global emcee Jeff Jarvis’ opening remarks that it is relationships – not content or messaging – that really matter now, Bob Garfield asked keynote conversation interviewee Tim Armstrong if his “content strategy” maybe wasn’t so wise after all?

“Content isn’t king,” Garfield suggested, adding, “It’s more like a lighthouse, it’s a platform for sending a signal out.”

And then he threw another hardball: “Have you made the wrong bet?”

The bet, of course, was Armstrong’s decision to pay heavily to acquire content publishers like the Huffington Post, TechCrunch, and of course the subsidizing and expansion of hyperlocal news service Patch.com.

Armstrong responded by noting that it’s not just content for content’s sake, but it is highly differentiated content that ultimately will position AOL above the fray and noise.

Armstrong said AOL is tackling that with two different strategies. One is the highly trusted professional brands and the other is more community based content.

Contrary to the conventional wisdom that a torrent of content is hyperfragmenting online content beyond the point of potential profits, Armstrong challenged that it's the exact "opposite," and that consumers are actually going to highly professional content brands, and that trend would only continue into the future.