Blogging 2007-17 in 1 graphic: the fate of RSS. Ribbonfarm peaked at ~7000 (green, left Y), now at ~2000, of which ~1000 are actually email.
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...So how did ribbonfarm keep growing (last year was a record)? Social sharing #1 and Google #2. Both have "pump" modes and "organic" modes
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..."pumping" distro (SEO, clickbaiting) doesn't create growth. It creates a) volatility b) falling reach c) falling trust.
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The *only* reason to pump is if biz model is based on selling vanity metrics to somebody (impressions to advertisers, traffic to investors)
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Making no moral judgment on either, but if you have no realistic path to the scale where advertising or OPM is meaningful, pumping is dumb
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Pumping will shorten your lifespan by creating buyer's regret (clickbaitees who now dislike you) faster than it creates trust relationships
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Only reason to do it? If you *already* know your content stream has a finite shelf life and harvesting is biz model from day 1. Aka a fad.
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Longevity is an interesting metric by which to manage media. The longer you want to be live, the more you must focus on content over tech
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what exactly are you referring to when you say "tech?" could you elaborate a bit?
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whatever technical elements you use to publish online: blogs, twitter, facebook, RSS, email...
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If you're doing a 2-week thing like a kickstarter, by all means go absolutely nuts turning every tech knob past max...
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If you want longevity at small scale, resist urge to optimize. Optimizing for tech environs today means paying > cost in 3y when it shifts
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