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Don’t depend on a single social media platform for your business

person holding iphone showing social networks folder

I came across this YouTube short today and it reminded me of a key digital strategy that I highly value: don’t become dependent upon someone else’s service (YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, etc).

Basically, YouTube demonetized this creator with no notice of the issue at hand (oddly, after 10 days, it was returned). She also had her Twitch channel suspended for spurious reasons (watch the video for details).

So, my advice: do NOT let your business become dependent on one platform. You become at risk from frivolus and spurious decisions. You also are dependent on the fiscal management of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, etc. TikTok’s recent troubles showcase this. Several businesses were left scrambling to respond.

I recommend pointing people to YOUR website, and to do so from the beginning. Additionally, start a newsletter and capture email addresses. Those are powerful for your current business (when your socials are functioning as planned) and mission critical when something goes wrong.

Remember to think long-term, anticipate challenges and be proactive in engaging them.

Seth Godin’s “The Use (And Design) Of Tools”

As I read Seth’s post today, I started wondering how tools like AI can be impacted by, or actually impact the attitude of “Too Busy To Learn”. I think one of AI’s key potentials is to make the need to understand the tool’s operation non-essential (think coding).

Mainly, I think the future will be dominated by those who understand the tools, not by the people who can simply operate them.

It’s Love Your SysAdmin Day

person encoding in laptop

Well, it was a few days ago.

TLDR: This manager was forced to let the best sysadmin he’d ever worked with go (ah, economics!). So, he posted this post to Reddit, and got amazing results.

The community rose up and have kinda crowdsourced said admin a new job. This is so cool to see! This is the kind of person I strive to be, so it’s particularly nice to see that valued and rewarded.

Aspirations are a good thing to have, methinks.

AI Generated Island Vibes

I have a fondness for YouTube music videos and often play them in the background while I’m working. Lately, I’ve been feeling island vibes, so that’s what I’ve been choosing. Today, this one rolled into my algorythim and, well, AI is struggling.

The music is fine, pretty much spot on for my mood. But the video, though…oh my! We have cliffs that move into each other, and then fade away, boats just appearing in bays, a speed boat zipping across the sky, and my favorite: two party boats, one of which is speeding backwards with another boat, right off the stern, moving at the same speed but sideways. Ah, physics!

So, AI is pretty amazing and has a lot to offer, but it’s not quite ready to take over the world.