Honestly one of the best takes on this sort of thing I’ve seen. There’s so much emphasis on being divisive that anything of depth gets conveniently pushed to the side unless you’re willing to dig deeper. Just like when I would work in film sets and clients just wanted to focus on “going viral”. That’s not how the world actually works. I really applaud this take and share a lot of the same views and past experiences myself.
It's weird. I can actually, with some degree of certainty, manufacture virality on my own now just by taking something nuanced and making it much less so...Right after writing this draft earlier this week, I tweeted this just to test it out: https://x.com/thejustinwelsh/status/2070115310519136649
Specific to virality, you know how to play that game and what will get engagement, just like the “white collar fraud” line is doing the same thing. My experience was dealing with people who just knew “viral does well for business so let’s just do that” but had no idea what the nuance actually was. Just interesting.
I agree. We can learn the best practices and leverage them without giving up nuance. As I recall there was a made up word for it: legit bate. It’s still eye catching and intriguing but honest.
I think the most important part of your essay was this: "I know that I’ve logged onto X before actively looking for something that will upset me." Thats the big reveal. The psychological goldmine that certain people are willing to exploit. It's a social agreement. I am curious as to why you would be compelled to do that. I appreciate your writing.
Is your saturday essay here on Substack disconnected from your kit/website newsletter for your backend or are you able to distribute it all from the same place? How do you manage this?
Wonderful and wise essay. I wrote a marketing book about decision-making a few years back and in opening I wrote that “it depends” is often the most useful answer but that doesn’t sell. And we marketers are partly to blame as we want definitive answers as figuring it out is harder work.
Honestly one of the best takes on this sort of thing I’ve seen. There’s so much emphasis on being divisive that anything of depth gets conveniently pushed to the side unless you’re willing to dig deeper. Just like when I would work in film sets and clients just wanted to focus on “going viral”. That’s not how the world actually works. I really applaud this take and share a lot of the same views and past experiences myself.
It's weird. I can actually, with some degree of certainty, manufacture virality on my own now just by taking something nuanced and making it much less so...Right after writing this draft earlier this week, I tweeted this just to test it out: https://x.com/thejustinwelsh/status/2070115310519136649
Specific to virality, you know how to play that game and what will get engagement, just like the “white collar fraud” line is doing the same thing. My experience was dealing with people who just knew “viral does well for business so let’s just do that” but had no idea what the nuance actually was. Just interesting.
It's as fascinating as it is frightening how easily we give up our agency.
Great piece, Justin.
Appreciate you.
Likewise.
Well done.
Thank you, Jeremy.
Happily restacking.
I appreciate that, Nicholas. THanks for reading!
Love it. It helped me to set my expectations about growing my audience. It has to be slow by definition if I just focus on nuance, and that’s okay.
It's certainly not a bad thing. I think there are other ways to grow without removing nuance.
I agree. We can learn the best practices and leverage them without giving up nuance. As I recall there was a made up word for it: legit bate. It’s still eye catching and intriguing but honest.
> And if you want to generate outrage and controversy, it’s important that the very first things that get cut are nuance and context
What a fascinating take. It sounds like the practice of rage-baiting, but I can't tell if they're one and the same or different
The people closest to the work usually have the most context.
The people farthest from it often have the strongest opinions.
I’ve learned that good systems are built by listening before making conclusions.
I think the most important part of your essay was this: "I know that I’ve logged onto X before actively looking for something that will upset me." Thats the big reveal. The psychological goldmine that certain people are willing to exploit. It's a social agreement. I am curious as to why you would be compelled to do that. I appreciate your writing.
Freedom-focused writing always resonates
Is your saturday essay here on Substack disconnected from your kit/website newsletter for your backend or are you able to distribute it all from the same place? How do you manage this?
Wonderful and wise essay. I wrote a marketing book about decision-making a few years back and in opening I wrote that “it depends” is often the most useful answer but that doesn’t sell. And we marketers are partly to blame as we want definitive answers as figuring it out is harder work.