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something not mentioned is the importance of timing. for example a link posted on saturday 11:00PM pacific will not receive nearly as much attention as the same link posted on a friday at 7:00AM pacific.
At least for this post, I made sure to post it in the afternoon. To have an overall between Eurpean and US time. (I'm based in near Amsterdam)
And you made it again! :D Nice writeup. Very interesting analysis.
Otherwise I push it into the future and it never happens.
Happy that I found some time this week.
I'm torn between "nice writeup" and "ugh, a guide to making viral content on HN?"
Nice analysis. The point about titles is interesting: given how content spreads on the Internet, it's really an invitation to potential readers. If you take that too far, it can devolve into tacky link-bait, but it's worth thinking about how to summarize your post into a handful of compelling words.
As mentioned in another comment, I think it's sad if one writes an amazing article but it stays unrecognized or gets little traction simply because the title was a bad choice.
But at the same time, we have lived long enough with clickbait to know it works (unfortunately), and this shouldn't become a place where people are lured into low-quality posts.
It makes me think: we may be living in a golden age when human analysis and thought still produce the most interesting content. Soon AI-assisted content generation processes will take the next evolutionary step: doing proactive analysis and concept development with the human being more like the back seat driver and director.
AI powered writing assistants, music generators, life coaches, etc, will get so good that authentic solo human creation may become a rarity.
(Tangentially, if you ask Perplexity for tips on writing blog posts that are likely to go viral on HN you'll get the above post, only 6 hours old, as a reference)
I'm torn between "nice writeup" and "ugh, a guide to making viral content on HN?"
Ooops you did it again! Good analysis. It makes me think: we may be living in a golden age when human analysis and thought still produce the most interesting content. Soon AI-assisted content generation processes will take the next evolutionary step: doing proactive analysis and concept development with the human being more like the back seat driver and director. AI powered writing assistants, music generators, life…
For example: Music is not only about how good it sounds. But also a lot about who the singer is. Their history. What they stand for and what story is behind a album or song.
With AI, I don’t see that we will ever reach that dimension. Expect maybe when AI becomes sentient?
I'm torn between "nice writeup" and "ugh, a guide to making viral content on HN?"
Being viral, for content, is not always bad: it can make an otherwise boring or tedious subject engaging and enjoyable (and on the other side, a fun subject might appear boring if badly written), which I think is what this article is about :-).