The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game of Capturing and Keeping Attention

by Nicolas Cole

Pros of writing on a social platform: Readers can easily discover you (whereas with a blog you are responsible for bringing the readers yourself, and with a publication you are hoping people will discover you via SEO and/or paid media). You can “earn” credibility with metrics like Views, Shares, Comments, Badges, Who-Follows-Who, etc. You can interact and build meaningful relationships with other writers and readers. You can build an audience, faster, in an environment that allows you to reach them quickly and effectively. You still “own” all of your content. Unlike writing for a major publication, you can do whatever you want with your content—including copy/pasting the exact same material onto different platforms. You are perceived differently. When someone reads your writing on your blog, it feels biased and subjective. When someone reads your writing on a social site, it feels more objective and “out in the open.” Your content is more likely to be shared. Other websites and publications very rarely (if ever) syndicate or share content from someone’s personal blog or company website. But content published in social environments is considered “fair game” and far more likely to be shared. Social platforms also have exponentially larger audiences than websites and publications, so when a piece of writing “catches fire” on a social site, it goes further, faster.