The Case of the Devious Algorithm Landlord



👋 Hi Reader,

I am a Kyla Scanlon fan. I admire her book ‘In This Economy’ and her work on Substack.

So when she wrote recently about the attention economy on this thought-provoking piece Who's Getting Rich Off Your Attention? I had to sit down and write my perspective on how it applies so deeply to my mission at LetterStack.

Kyla speaks in detail about how only a few media empires have quietly consolidated the TV, and now social, attention span online. These few entrepreneurs are calling the shots on how attention gets distributed and engagement is manufactured, specifically across X and Tiktok.

That said, it is the small humble creator brand who faces the short end of the attention stick. Attention on social is fickle, and if the algorithm powers-that-be don’t bless you, then your content is facing a poker game rigged to let the house (with an army of social bots) win over.

Forget winning. Is it even possible to play in this attention economy?

It is - and inspired by Kyla’s framing, I would try to map the attention to an avenue I own. At Letterstack, it is to build an email list from the social content. Build your presence where you would like, LinkedIn, X, or Tiktok.

But make sure you don’t fall prey to algorithmic distortion. Make sure you offer an exit ramp to your newsletter, where you get direct access to your subscriber base, and then write engaging content which reaches them directly.

Want to understand how to go about it, step-by-step? Let us know by hitting ‘Reply’ on this email, or send a note to marketing@letterstack.co.


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