Getting my audience back

In 2020, while listening to Anthony Pompliano live, something he said in reference to George Orwell’s ideas struck me: 

To provide context, he discussed cancel culture and product development. It’s easier to determine if you’re building something people want if you have an audience to test it with.

It struck me because I once had an audience that I let fade away.

My science communication blog had more readers in a day than I had students in a year at university. But instead of just continuing to write, I gambled on traditional media: I wrote a book, hired a press assistant to attempt entry into TV and newspapers. I should have started tweeting instead.

I continued writing, but with reduced frequency, on different topics and on various platforms, causing my audience to fade away.

However, instead of lamenting over spilled milk, I decided to immediately start working to regain my audience. But how? I had no mailing list and hadn’t worked on my Facebook and Twitter for years. I was a below-average LinkedIn user. I couldn’t follow all the digital media advice I received, like starting an Instagram, studying algorithms, or paying for posts (that was not the audience that I was looking for).

I began intuitively, starting from the basics, applying the lessons I was taking from decentralized communities at twitter: own your content, use your platform, create your brand. So, I chose a name, a domain, a WordPress template, and started writing on my blog and Twitter.

I wasn’t sure about many things: Did I need a branded name? Was the name appealing? How should I illustrate it? What topics should I cover? Would people be interested in what I had to say? Would it impact their lives? But I was sure that the world needs more scientists for more evidence-based decision-making and could use a scientist passionate about translating scientific discoveries and methodologies to everyone. That was enough for me to start.

I had one more thing in my favor. Even if I failed to get the audience back, the effort would have been justified. I love to learn and I love to write. Writing helps me to think and learn, like Sam Corcos said:

Writing on tweeter and in a blog is very complementary. You exercise your ability to select the information that really matters to fit the 150 characters but can expand and further elaborate in the blog.

This approach is an excellent method for documenting my processes, knowledge, and individuality – creating a repository of my life’s work and insights.