Theoretically, I get your point, but with the algorithm machinations of this particular writing site that shall remain nameless, is this true?
When I look at my feed, I’ll see your writing in one tiny place, the “new from you network” column on the right side of the page on my computer (I know it’s different for people with smartphones).
Here’s a screenshot to show you how much stuff appears that I want to read.
That’s five articles out of 15. If I scroll down, that number becomes something like 7 out of 40.
The chance of my seeing one of your articles depends on when you post and when I go on the site.
If I go on your profile, I see lots of articles that I missed each day in the avalanche of posts that cascade through my feed (wow, I feel like snowboarding).
My point, dude, is that while I go goofy to your regular, I can carve with the best of them, although at my age I do worry about getting too much air.
But, like, if you’re in the snack bar warming up with some java while I’m screaming down a run on my buttery board when some bozo causes me to have a yard sale, who’s going to know what happened?
Can we really be sure that people have stopped reading our stuff because we’ve lost touch with our readers?
Or is it because our readers have lost touch with us, based on how difficult it is for people to find our writing in this brave new world of “quality” content?
I make the effort to search the profiles of my favorite people on a daily basis.
Otherwise, I start asking myself, “did so-and-so go on vacation?”
Or, I forget about some of my favorite writers for a few days, and if I see one of their articles by chance, I go back to their profile and catch up on what I missed.
I don’t think most people work that hard to find what they want; they just find something in their feed that looks interesting.
All the stuff we’ve talked about regarding the craft of writing didn’t just leave the room.
My keyboard hasn’t gone on strike, refusing to write anything even mildly humorous.
With the new payment system and curation rules, almost every post I’ve read on the subject talks about decreased readership, or being in “curgatory”™ a term I coined so I don’t have to copy the boring term “curation jail.”
