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vgr's profile
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
Venkatesh Rao
@vgr

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Venkatesh Rao

@vgr

Conversational account. For work follow @ribbonfarm, @breaking_smart, @artofgig. Tweets are 90% vacuous views, apathetically held. Mediocritopian. IKEA builder.

Los Angeles, CA
venkateshrao.com
Joined August 2007

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    1. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 17
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      The thing is, the easiest cross-promotion to do is the kind that reinforces existing tribes. A "if you like this, you'll like this also" approach will hook greenwald subscribers up to writers who are also like greenwald. Going against grain will be hard.

      1 reply 0 retweets 18 likes
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    2. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 17
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      Along-the-grain cross-promotion will lower fragility a bit wrt single 800lb bluechekerillas, but simply bump the fragility up a level to an existing tribe. Patreon discovered this the hard way. Now you have to scenario-plan the exit risk revenue hit of entire tribes.

      1 reply 1 retweet 9 likes
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    3. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 17
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      Worse, the tribes will realize it too, and will achieve a platform-local tribal consciousness and begin trying to "own" the platform, regardless of whatever the cross-promotion algorithms do along/against the grain. The platform will be drawn into a fight against its own readers.

      2 replies 1 retweet 9 likes
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    4. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 17
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      I think Substack is doing many of the right things for the current stage of the platform. For example, focusing hard on empowering writers rather than readers, and doing a lot for beginning writers trying to build an audience... that's all good.

      1 reply 0 retweets 9 likes
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    5. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 17
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      Reshape the curve away from 800lb bluecheckerrila dependence. Ideal for people like me, the mid-level non-brand-name types would be if substack could afford to lose any single bluecheck and never have to go to cross-promotion at all. This requires healthy margins from long tail

      1 reply 0 retweets 11 likes
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    6. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 17
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      This is why it is short-sighted to complain about their high fee percentage (10% on top of credit card fees as opposed to say the fixed fee of ghost or mailchimp). They need to be making enough money off the long tail to resist the pressures created by 800lbers.

      3 replies 0 retweets 11 likes
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    7. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 17
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      I don't grudge them that. I'm open to things like ghost and memberful, but it is polyannish to believe they resolve the issues. I was on mailchimp for a long time (still am for my basic ribbonfarm list) but their incentives for eg. push the product towards marketing clients.

      1 reply 0 retweets 6 likes
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    8. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 17
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      Ghost is new enough that it isn't showing its own vulnerabilities, but there will be some. No free lunch. Content platform Pick 2 of 3 triangle: optimal featureset for you, low cost, high variance/low-bias.

      3 replies 0 retweets 15 likes
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    9. Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 17
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      An instructive precedent is the adjacent courseware sector. The el cheapo platforms really don't work for indie course creators. Teachable does, BUT costs an arm and a leg and STILL had to sell itself to a Brazilian PE firm to survive.

      2 replies 0 retweets 7 likes
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    10. Jason‏ @peregrine Nov 17
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      Replying to @vgr

      IMO it would behoove them to remove the "top substack subscriptions list" its fun for the top subscribers to game it, and its aspirationally positive for new users but they don't aggregate content so it is dumb to create the illusion that they do.

      1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
      Venkatesh Rao‏ @vgr Nov 17
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      Replying to @peregrine

      Do you know if it drives much traffic or subscriptions? Seems anemic to me.

      12:32 PM - 17 Nov 2020
      1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Jason‏ @peregrine Nov 17
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          Replying to @vgr

          I do not know. They could highlight top posters in more editorial ways and avoid the issue. I OFTEN find myself annoyed they don't do more platform stuff, ie unified feed, LINKS to the blog I subscribe to for example. So it's weird for them to highlight it all.

          1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
        3. Jason‏ @peregrine Nov 17
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          Replying to @peregrine @vgr

          lol I called it a blog, freudian slip?

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
        4. End of conversation

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