Seth's Blog : The Hotel California (and subscriptions)

The Hotel California (and subscriptions)

Every day, this blog is automatically echoed on my Linkedin channel. Over the last few years, the traffic to those posts on Linkedin is down more than 90%. Understandable. Platforms evolve, people shift their patterns and interests.

I recently did a manual post on Linkedin, though, and was amazed to discover that within minutes, it had 10 times as much traffic as a typical post does. I did another one about this leap and it did even better. It’s clear that the algorithm was changed.

Not to help me, not to help you, but to help the endless quest for more that most public companies wrestle with.

The seduction is clear. They’re sending a message: If you want us to bring you eyeballs, move in. Don’t link out.

Problem one: eyeballs don’t make change happen, people do.

Problem two: Don’t check into a motel that makes it hard to check out.

Enshittification is real. VCs and public markets push the companies they invest in to maximize profits. First, please the customers. Then, double cross them to please the advertisers. Finally, double cross both of them to please the stock price.

The alternative is to own your own stuff. To build an asset you control, and to guard your attention and trust carefully.

The best way to read blogs hasn’t changed in twenty years. RSS. It’s free and easy and it just works. It’s the most efficient way to get the information you’re looking for, and it’s under your control. There’s a quick explainer video at that link along with a reader that’s easy to use.

And, if you’re a creator of change, of brand, of content or of art, it’s worth considering whether you want to own the assets or just rent them.

As an experiment, this blog is now going to be shared via Zapier as a cut and paste to Linkedin. Perhaps that will help users who are trapped in their ecosystem be able to read it more easily. It’ll probably be stripped of links, which you can find here on the blog itself…

As always, the source of truth (and the latest posts with all typos fixed) is right here on the blog at seths dot blog.

Where we create our media and how we consume it are still up to us. It’s true, at some point, that the medium is the message.