The most relevant trend in the publishing industry is in fact the departure from the so-called Legacy Media towards examples of Individual media brands. This means that over time the attention and general audience of legacy brands in information, entertainment, or education have declined as interest in individuals has grown.
Most of these individuals, true influencers of our culture and economy, reside establishments on the most established platforms, such as Twitter, Spotify, Youtube. A significant portion also opts for decentralized or hybrid distribution solutions for their editorial content.
Today there are many content distribution options and we are witnessing more and more frequently the migration of influencers towards the platforms that allow the greatest freedom of expression and/or the most effective monetization solution.
That's when solutions like Medium and Substack were born and spread, along the lines of independence, long-form journalism, and distribution to communities of interest.
Content creators are now, in some respects, freer than ever to experiment and meet their audience with highly customized formats based on the specificity of their content.
Of course, at the extreme end of this freedom, there are areas of limitation. The recent controversy over the concept of de-platforming is there for all to see, as is the need for a frank discussion of the nature of these interventions, including the intersection of freedom of expression for all to see.
Part of the social and economic implications of this reality was discussed in the first chapter, where we dealt with the emerging need for ethical reflection in our digital activities. The recent flight to GETTR from Twitter or the growth of professional distribution services such as SELZ are the extremes of this movement in the search for independence and economic return.
While it's true that an individual can become a media company, it's becoming increasingly clear that they can't do so without the ability to scale success through algorithmic logic.
The role of Curators
Combining rules and data that make decisions about what users might see on the platform, a content algorithmic process is constantly distributing content. However, they work - and the social network works - as long as there is relevant content created by humans. So, quality and originality matter.
The main distribution criteria generally follow the principles of the relevance of the author and the success of their recent content. There's no way to cover all the major criteria for individual platforms, but we have four essential tips for 2022.
1.
Native features vs outbound and sharing.
It seems to be increasingly important to use the unique features of a given social (e.g. creating REELS for Instagram or using the LIVE VIDEO platform for Linkedin) to gain visibility. Each social is in competition with the others, so the release of new features is followed by more attention from the algorithms. On the other hand, using a social channel only to share what has been created on another one can be less productive.
2.
Give options to the machines Consideration without regard to your current level of followers and engagement. The more consistent the the content you create, the more predictable and repetitive you are (format, quality, hashtags) the more options algorithms will have to share your content.
3.
Timing
For years, the time factor (when we publish during the day) has been described as determining success. If it's true that it matters, we suggest-in the inability to figure out the perfect time to maintain regularity. Sometimes creating means curating other people's content. Creating playlists, for example, is an original exercise, but in terms of how your curation goes about building stories with elements that are different from each other.
The phenomenon, growing on Spotify, is set to spread to other platforms in 2022. Creating lists of authors, movies, newsletters, videos or NFT's is a skill that will be rewarded progressively more and more over the next 12 months.
In some ways, think of it as balancing the algorithms themselves. They too organize content, but your eye, your sensibility, and the unique way you can do it can create benefits for you and the social you're using.