Content Course Correction

Today, everyone has a podcast.

Two decades ago, everyone had a blog.

That's how much content creation, platforms, and distribution have evolved.

Podcasting is the new blogging.

Twenty years ago, I was a blogger.

Between 2006 and 2011, I had not one, but two on Blogspot.

I only recently discovered them after Google sent out notices that they still existed, probably after using the text as training data for their large language models.

When I got my first iPhone in late-2011, I migrated my content ingestion habits to digital platforms, particularly to a highly-curated feed on the then-still-private Twitter.

Fix the Glitch

In 2022, I started a New Year's Resolution to reconnect with colleagues, friends, establishing a rhythm of coffee, lunch, and happy hour conversations.

The by-product was a whole bunch of talking points, anecdotes, and content.

I compiled it all and picked LinkedIn and Substack as distribution platforms.

At some point, I realized that the LinkedIn product team resists implementing killer features that would make the platform an effective blogging site for professionals.

I don't know why.

I think it probably has to do with the fact that users are scrolling so fast while trying to escape the Zoom call they're on, or desperately searching for their next job, that they aren't in a mental space to read for comprehension.

Substack is an effective platform for writers, but it also depends on content delivery via email.

Dear reader, inboxes are ruined and I don't want to be spam.

Then I made it all worse: I started blending in personal stories and essays into the Substack and focusing one-off business-related posts on LinkedIn.

It got messy.

I made it that way.

This is what "building in public" looks like.

As a product hacker, I'm good at breaking stuff.

Now, I'd broken my own stuff.

I had to "fix the glitch."

Purposeful Content Strategy

In 2023, I set up a business license branded as Superversive? , realized the value of my own digital garden, and began consulting with organizations on product development.

What I've learned about myself: I can consume and synthesize content at a higher volume, at a faster pace, and connect more dots than the average bear.

As an old-school blogger, I'm hacking together tools to create content, leverage platforms, and iterate on distribution.

Follow along if you're interested in a pro-social citizen's guide to stitching together tools for optimized for your style.

Substack

As a content distribution platform, the benefits of Substack are that it enables creators to harvest direct contact with subscribers by exposing e-mail addresses. This is helpful to a point, because, remember, inboxes are ruined.

When Google killed Reader, there was a lot of gnashing of teeth about RSS.

The value of Substack isn't just e-mails, it's integration with RSS to distribute podcasts to Apple and Spotify platforms.

Caveat: Substack has its own content moderation problems.

TikTok

I'd been vocally skeptical of TikTok, and Scott Galloway has described it as a "neurojack" into the brains of our young. This might be concerned considering 43% of USians under the age of 30 get their news from TikTok.

The value of TikTok is democratizing content production tooling for the masses.

The platform recently enabled 10-minute long videos to take share from YouTube and YouTube Shorts.

Caveat: it might also be another social weapon of the Chinese government.

Podcasting

Everything is a remix, and podcasts are a remix of audio blogs, AM talk radio, and voice-memos to the universe.

Caveat: there was - and still is - a lot going on in AM talk radio.

Using the production tooling of TikTok, then uploading to Substack, which strips down to audio-only, and distributes to Apple and Spotify is my content creation, platform, and distribution hack.

I'm sure there's easier ways, but this workflow...works.

Attention Is All You Need

The human attention span is just not that long.

Nobody listens to the entirety of Stairway to Heaven (7:55) or American Pie (8:42).

Getting all the way through Bohemian Rhapsody (5:55) involves a road trip and captive audience.

Radio has been around for 100 years and the business model has thrived on:

• packaging up "content" in 3-5 minute chunks
• soliciting brands to underwrite the costs
• distributing over the air

My 2024 thesis is to hack together content creation workflows, platforms, and distribution tools to see what's comfortable, what flows, and how the market evolves.

Thanks for reading this far!