People avoid friction because it’s work they’d prefer not to do. Luckily for us, the internet eliminates friction. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Reddit succeed because they are the best at doing it. They make it easy to join, consume, and engage. Through eliminating friction, they reach their goals of user growth, content consumption,Continue reading “Explore Higher Friction Communities”
Author Archives: ivanagas
The Speed of Community
The format of interactions in a community creates a community’s speed. Interactions are driven by the platforms communities exist on. Voice and messages are fast, events and peer-reviewed articles are slow. Speed is both a constraint and an incentive. It guides a community’s behavior, actions, and content. Communities can exist at any speed but oftenContinue reading “The Speed of Community”
Your Future Makes You Unique
How you think about the future makes you unique. It is your knowledge and experiences projected forward. Your ideas about the future shape how you spend your time and energy. There are many futures for you to explore and pursue. You should try to pick the best ones. Start by exploring many futures. You can’tContinue reading “Your Future Makes You Unique”
Communities Should Create Paid Content
Communities normally monetize in two ways: access and status. Many communities exist “after” knowledge. They are an incentive for getting through the course, project, guide, or certification. They allow access to people who did the same. Once you gained the knowledge (and often paid for it), then you get access to the community. This isContinue reading “Communities Should Create Paid Content”
How To Keep Big Writers On Substack
Writing is hard, competitive, and readers do not want to pay for it. Sounds like an unappealing market right? Against all odds, Substack is one of the most hyped companies at the moment. Their competitive advantage, growing and monetizing newsletters simply, is also a weakness. Writers can just as easily leave with a list SubstackContinue reading “How To Keep Big Writers On Substack”
Exit Feeds, Enter Community
Information floods the internet. You can’t control it, but it must be controlled for you to absorb it. It is primarily controlled through infinite feeds of content on social media. Because sites control the feed, they control a part of your bubble. Your bubble is the natural and selected sources of information that influence whatContinue reading “Exit Feeds, Enter Community”
How Discord Won
It has been a big year for realizing the limits of technology for interacting with people. Gamers have known this for a long time. Lag, disconnections, and coordination issues were problems in gaming since the start. There is a platform that has gone a long way in solving those problems: Discord. Discord allows people toContinue reading “How Discord Won”
Build Above Ground
Everyone judges construction sites. We say “this is coming along quickly” or “this will never finish.” When judging construction, all we care about is what’s above ground. Only when we peer between the fence and look closely do we care about what’s below ground. Construction can seem endless because of all the time spent workingContinue reading “Build Above Ground”
The Readership Will Take Care of Itself
Nearly every day, I find myself thinking about ways to get people to read my writing. I tell myself to update the design, start a newsletter, tweet more, or optimize SEO. I say to myself, “If only I spent more time on those, then I would be successful.” Maybe I have to wait and getContinue reading “The Readership Will Take Care of Itself”
The Opportunity for Internet Communities
Internet communities, spaces where people with similar identities and interests interact, are a massive opportunity. General internet spaces are becoming hostile. Societal shifts are forcing more people to rethink the communities they are apart of. Big companies in the space have stagnated. Trends are moving in the right direction. Here are some important ones: LackContinue reading “The Opportunity for Internet Communities”
Ian Vanagas 