Algorithms Are The Hall Monitors We’re Sneaking Past
I’m still a bit sick and headachey, and that in turn has thrown me off my schedule. Most of the day, I’ve been working on paper, (and the Scribe, which is still a fantastic invention.)
That said, I managed to read some material on the Twitter algorithm earlier today, and it’s gone down as “interesting stuff” for when I continue the series on mastering platforms. Mostly because it’s helpful to understand the rules of the game, (i.e. platform) before you start playing, but also, you can create fun little writing challenges for yourself in order to “game” the algorithm. For instance:
- Video content is king across platforms – how do you do that as a writer, and not a social media star?
- Controversial content is determined by keywords – how do you talk about certain subjects (or just generally) without triggering that?
- Similarly, some platforms have sentiment analysis baked into their algorithms; if you’re negative, you’re going to get limited. How does that affect your writing?
- Platforms increasingly have their own private subscription systems and “premium” features – Substack, Twitter, Medium have systems for monetisation, and I’m probably forgetting something, but how do you work that into your plan?
- Most platforms reward you for keeping people on the app, and punish you for taking people off the app. How do you work around that?
It’s annoying that this is the way it is, but turning these algorithmic limitations gets you into a positive mindset. (See bullet point three, above.) However, a lot of “growth hackers” or whatever they’ll call themselves to “increase engagement” at the moment would have you believe that all there is to these platforms is the algorithmic element.
Not if you want real people to engage with you.
We’re Writing For Humans
Over my years as a copywriter, I would repeatedly tell clients to avoid the latest and greatest tactics in order to make their life easier, better, or otherwise make their businesses more profitable.
And now as a non-freelancer, I apply the same logic, (and get outsized results relative to the lack of complexity I use.)
Because ultimately, you are a human writing for other humans. The algorithmic stuff is a gatekeeper and it can be irritating, but it’s a technicality or a box to tick. Mostly, don’t do anything stupid, make sure you do all the stuff you should be doing, and then get on with the actual business of giving people what they want to read.
It’s the same with the overly complex marketing tech-stacks; yes you can get the email list SaaS software package which costs hundreds of dollars a month and you can have complex tagging and so on and so forth… and in some cases that might be a good idea.
But ultimately, if you can produce words that people want to read; for fun, entertainment, knowledge, money, sex, power, wonder or fear-alleviation; they will read your emails in plain text. They’ll subscribe to your Substack and/or list and they’ll stay on it for as long as you’re giving them one or all of the things I just mentioned.
And so the psychological aspect, the human aspect, if you like, is immensely more important than the algorithmic, technological one. It’s also, if you’re inclined, the way to overcome the war against the automated-apocalypse, dead-internet future that many dread.
How you fight is how you win.