“The most popular podcasts aren’t uniquely different, they’re just best in craft. They’re just doing the same thing that everyone else is doing but at a much higher level. I think that’s the same as newsletters, I think that’s the same thing as everything else.... you don’t need to be completely different, you just need to be good at what you’re do... See more

when you have something useful to say, articulated in an unusual and interesting way, delivered to a specific group of people [who hang out together], word of mouth spreads.

And, as with Seth Godin, David didn’t need growth hacks in the 90s and he wouldn’t need them today.

Because the noise makes it hard to find quality, interesting perspectives, whi... See more

If you’re looking for fast social growth, this process is ineffective.

Algorithms don’t support it. Casual ‘likers’ don’t like deep content, and the types of folk who enjoy deep content don’t ‘like’ social posts.

But if you’re thinking in months or years rather than weeks, David would rise to the top today, tomorrow, or ten years from now.

Because if ... See more

it does demonstrate a hunger for freedom—freedom from the attention economy, from atomization, and the extractive logic of mainstream communication

“the dark forest” region of the web is becoming increasingly important as a space of online communication for users of all ages and political persuasions. In part, this is because it is less sociologically stressful than the clearnet zone, where one is subject to peer, employer, and state exposure.

Scenario number one is a disparity in economic power, in which the folks with the data and the algorithms have—and add all of—the economic value, and the rest of the workforce adds little or none.

That scenario could create an awful social disruption.

You don’t need to be showing up everywhere. Nor do you need to be showing up all the time.