Too short for a blog post, too fun to ignore, here are a few thoughts about the world of marketing, content, and beyond …
The end of comments
This might seem counterintuitive for a person who preaches about “the most human company wins,” but I have disabled comments on this blog. It has nothing to do with trolls or haters—it’s the math.
In 2017, I wrote a post noting that the average number of comments on a blog post had dropped from about 25 to 12. This decline was happening as the number of my subscribers was going UP. I theorized:
- Comments have migrated from the blog to other places where I post, like LinkedIn and Medium. Many people also find it is just easier to reply to the email they receive.
- When I started this blog in 2009, most people consumed content on a desktop or laptop computer. It was easier to leave comments on a keyboard. But today, about 85% of the traffic comes through mobile devices, and it’s just a pain to log in and comment.
So, while my subscriptions have gone up and I judge the quality of my content to be better than ever, the actual number of comments per post is near zero. It’s not a failure. It’s evolution.
I’ve been thinking about deleting the comment section for a few years but hesitated because of the history that would be lost — nearly 100,000 comments on this blog, including epic commentary by Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, and other luminaries.
But in the end, I figured I was probably the only person who cared about this history and decided to let it go when it was time for the annual subscription renewal. Turning the page.
Self-Suffering
I have been truly suffering over the past two weeks … at my own hand.
More than 90% of my work involves hunching over a computer. And when I write a book, the hunching hours are endless. The muscles throughout the entire top of my body bunch together. And every time I finish writing a book, my body strikes back and says, “ENOUGH.”
For the past two weeks, I have been in level 8-9 pain in my neck and shoulders. Almost every muscle is in a knot. I am sleep-deprived since there is no sleeping position that does not cause pain. My weight has crept up, and my blood pressure, too. I am so exhausted that I cannot think or work or eat.
In other words, I am a barely functioning human being. And I did this to myself. Luckily, massage and prescription drugs have started to help.
I’m not writing this to whine or seek sympathy. This is a cautionary tale. Just because you have a “white collar” job doesn’t mean you’re not vulnerable to injury. I can’t abuse my body like this any more and have to take immediate steps to be better. Don’t be me. Watch for the warning signs.
Mascot mania
I did a guest lecture at the University of Indiana last week and they all wanted to talk about was how Duolingo “killed off” its mascot.
“Authorities are currently investigating his cause of death and we are cooperating fully,” the company said on social media. “Tbh, he probably died waiting for you to do your lesson, but what do we know.”
Duo — full name Duo Keyshauna Renee Lingo — was born in 1000 BC, according to Duolingo. He has been the wise and witty face of the company since its creation in 2011, motivating-slash-pestering users to do their daily language lessons.
His tendency to guilt-trip, at times in a vaguely threatening way, made him a meme in 2017, and his popularity has soared ever since.
Obviously, killing off the bird created an audacious stir. A bunch of other brands piled on to express “condolences,” including Netflix and Subway.
The Indiana students were getting bored with the number of brands trying to catch the meme wave with their owl mascot tributes. The lesson is, you can only be audacious once. Once the brands copied each other, it became dull. And nobody can ever kill off a mascot again!
Age over wisdom
A friend lamented the other day about how he wished he were 22 years old again. I became wistful myself, especially since everything was hurting that day.
Would I trade the wisdom (and achiness!) of who I am now to be 22 again? No. I love who I am now. I am using every experience, lesson, and trouble I’ve had in the past to teach others and lift them up. I couldn’t do that at 22. What could be better than using your gifts to make an impact in the world?
By the way, I hold open the possibility of changing my mind on this as we advance into the future together!
AI self-soothing
My wise friend Kami Huyse made an interesting observation in the RISE community:
“This morning, I had a conversation with ChatGPT because I wanted to put it into context with some research and perspective. I found that the AI was extremely comforting and helped me reframe my thinking without invalidating my feelings.
“This might seem good at first and even make me prefer the conversation with the AI over one with my husband, but that wasn’t where I landed. Iron sharpens iron. We need people with different thoughts to sharpen our thinking.
“I fear that turning to AI all the time would lead to bubble thinking. I don’t doubt for a minute that the AI would also validate someone on the complete opposite side of the spectrum. And with just as great arguments!”
This is a keen perspective. Social media already keeps us in an algorithmic bubble of groupthink. AI will learn even more about us and reinforce what we want to hear. Keep in mind that AI self-soothing might reinforce bad habits as well as good ones!
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Illustration courtesy MidJourney
