Published on January 5, 2025 1:00 PM GMT
As someone who writes for fun, I don't need to get people onto my site:
If I write a post and some people are able to get the core ideajust from the title or a tweet-length summary, great!
I can include the full contents of my posts in my RSS feed andon FB, because so what if people read the whole post there and neverclick though to my site?
It would be different if I funded my writing through ads (maximizetime on site to maximize impressions) or subscriptions (get the chanceto pitch, probably want to tease a paywall).
Sometimes I notice myself accidentallycopying what makes sense for other writers. For example, becauseI can't put full-length posts on Bluesky or Mastodon I write shortintros and link my full post. Yesterday I initially drafted:
It's common to flavor truffles with extracts, but I'd like less of aliquor flavor. This time last year I made some with freeze-driedraspberries, which I think came out well. I continue to like those alot, and this year tried strawberry and orange zest. One worked a lotbetter than the other: [link]
This would have gotten more people to click through, but thatshouldn't be my target. InsteadI posted:
... and this year tried strawberry (eh) and orange zest (great!)[link]
No need to hold curiosity hostage.
It's common to criticize "clickbait", where a teaser entices and thendoesn't deliver, but even reserving key information for the fullarticle is a product of authors (needing to!) optimize for goals otherthan communicating to users. I like that this isn't a pressure thatI'm under. Because our culture has so many who are under it, however,optimizing for communication can require noticing and intentionallyavoiding common patterns.
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