Lesson 6: The Medium Spectrum
Lesson of the Week:
The Medium Spectrum
Last week, we discussed how your newsletter is a safe space. The interwebs can be scary, making us all feel like imposters. But the only way to develop real relationships is to go out there and be vulnerable and dig deep into your thoughts and ideas and share them. It’s easy to get discouraged, and anonymous accounts can be cruel.
That’s why we believe there is a Medium Spectrum when publishing on the internet.
What we mean by this is there is a spectrum of comfortableness across social media platforms. It’s different for everyone, but for Chris, it ranges from his newsletter (most comfortable) to Twitter to LinkedIn (least comfortable). Old co-workers and former colleagues populate LinkedIn; the fear of being judged is quite high.
It’s hard for many to share on LinkedIn because most feel the need to be successful on it. However, my newsletter is filled with people that I’ve built a relationship with over time, and it starts small. It’s less likely they will be trolls. And I can remove anyone who makes me feel uncomfortable. It’s my party.
What’s great about the Medium Spectrum is that you can use it to acclimatize.
Start out sharing in your newsletter, graduate that topic to Twitter when you’re comfortable, and then finally move it to LinkedIn.
For example, Louie shared this idea about writing and engineers first on his Newsletter. Then condensed it down for Twitter, where it did well.
Then, a month later he took this same idea to LinkedIn, confident that it was a good one, where many of his former colleagues reside.
Louie would’ve never been able to post things like this on LinkedIn first when he was starting.
Everyone’s Medium Spectrum will depend on their comfort level and audiences in different mediums. It is similar to the way comedians use small clubs to work on their material before going to larger clubs and finally doing a Netflix special.
Newsletter of the Week:
Ava Huang demonstrates the Medium Spectrum in bookbear express. Ava writes really personal essays discussing her life, thoughts, ideas. She has a paid subscription for her most private thoughts, a free newsletter where she shares less, and her Twitter is even more reserved.
Tip of the Week:
If you’ve followed our advice, your newsletter is made up of a few modules. To keep all the formatting constant, use the last week’s issue as a template.
Thank you for reading. We hope you have a wonderful weekend. If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with a friend or two.
Louie & Chris
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