2/27/2024 0 Comments Casey newton new hampshireWhat I am forgetting in those moments is that people are generally under-served by the commentary and analysis they find online. Sometimes when I feel like it’s been too long since I’ve had a scoop, a bit of existential dread can creep up on me: is the work I’m doing here really valuable enough to charge for? (In a related story, I started therapy for the first time this year.) People will pay you to tell them it’s complicated. That’s the basic flywheel that powers subscription growth, and it continued to work well in year two. They attract enough subscribers to offset churn - I averaged around 3 percent churn over the past three months - and often inspire some reader to reach out to me with some new idea or scoop that turns into the next hit. These pieces really struck a chord with you, and the business grew accordingly.ĭespite the fact that most growth is driven by hits, though, medium-performing posts help the business grow as well. I’ve also regularly delivered news from inside Twitter as Elon Musk attempted to buy - and then get out of buying - the company, explored the fascinating case of the man who got fired by his DAO, and became one of the first writers to regularly illustrate my newsletter with DALL-E. I brought you one of the first on-the-record interviews with a former TikTok policy manager to explain what working for ByteDance is really like. Īlong with Zoe Schiffer, I revealed how Twitter’s plans to build an OnlyFans competitor were foiled by its struggles to find and remove illegal content on the platform. I broke the news that Instagram was walking back controversial changes to the app. Some of the journalism you funded last year: I hope you feel good about that.Īs was the case last year, most of the moments that drove large numbers of free and paid subscriptions came when I broke news or wrote a piece of analysis that really resonated with you. Together, I truly believe we’re helping to prove out a new model for independent journalism, and my hope is that many more will take similar approaches in the future. Whether you’re a free or paid subscriber, thank you for making Platformer the best job of my life. I think the value of this is still somewhat underrated.īut it only works because you show up every day to read, share, and support me. Platformer shows up, tells you a few things, and ends. I also think it underscores the appeal of this newsletter’s design: one big idea a day, delivered straight to your inbox at a reliable time, without any ads, affiliate links, pop-ups, SEO bait, or any of the other now-familiar features of our digital landscape. I think all this speaks to the need for independent, reader-supported journalism about some of the biggest questions of our age: about the relationship between social networks and the world around them about how technology ought to be built and governed and about some of the seismic changes that result from innovation. And of that group, thousands have become paid subscribers, funding the growing ambitions I’ll share more about below. Today, there are just under 75,000 of you. When I left my full-time job at The Verge, there were about 24,000 of you reading every free edition. Two years later, I’m happy to tell you that - thanks entirely to you - Platformer is a growing and sustainable business. When I announced Platformer, I described my reasoning this way: “By going independent I hope to demonstrate that reader-funded reporters can survive and even thrive, breathing new life into a profession that is bleeding out in no small part due to the platforms I cover.” With that in mind, today I want to reflect on what I learned in year two, and tell you about some of the changes I’m making in response. Last year I told you all how it was going, and to my surprise, it became one of the most popular posts of the year. Two years ago, I quit my job to start Platformer. Vaporwave portrait of runners on top of clouds, by DALL-E
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