Controversy budget | thesephist.com

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2021-05-23 14:30:09

When you start talking about something regularly on the Internet, you begin to grow an audience. If you don’t pay proper attention, growing an audience can become a game and a goal in and of itself. But having an audience is just optionality, a kind of resource you earn for working hard to provide value to the public. And once you have a sizable audience, you can start to reap the benefits of your hard work by “cashing in” on the benefits of having a group of people who will listen to what you have to say.

One way to do this is to use your audience as a resource. Asking them questions or looking for inspiration, growing a professional network, things like that. But another way to “spend” your earned reputation with an audience is to stand for an opinion you believe in.

People join your audience usually for very particular reasons. In my case, that reason is usually that people are interested in or inspired by the kinds of side projects I make, and the kinds of blog posts I write, usually about tech and creative work. If I want to talk about something completely different, say advocating for a social movement or encouraging people to change their mind on something, they’ll listen until it gets too annoying.

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