Why You Need An Unfair Advantage Today

Written by darragh | Published 2019/11/25
Tech Story Tags: advertisement-platforms | online-privacy | digital-strategy | content-marketing-culture | problems-in-social-media | personal-data-exposure | growth-hacking | latest-tech-stories

TLDR Many people don't put a fraction of the effort into distributing their hard-made content they put into creating it. Publishing content on these platforms feels like bringing something into the world just to watch it die quietly in the night. Platforms limit your reach to your fans by default and encourage you to pay to promote your posts to YOUR fans. These platforms make money from advertising highly targeted ads that came about from searches you made, words your phone have recorded you saying without your knowledge, and the unrestricted access to your credit card history.via the TL;DR App

Does your digital content fail to drive action and get results? Ever wonder why your content isn't showing up in search results?
Most people don't put a fraction of the effort into distributing their hard-made content they put  into creating it. For example, there are 500 hours of new content uploaded to Youtube every minute. That's 720,000 hours of new content being uploaded per day. Yet only 1% of Youtube videos account for 93% of all views. So that means 99% of Youtube videos are barely getting seen. 
Would you believe 2.7% of all Youtube videos never even get 1 view?
Here’s why your blog and video content isn't showing up. It's because the digital landscape is unfair. Publishing content on these platforms feels like bringing something into the world just to watch it die quietly in the night.
We put in a staggering number of hours making our content. Yet most people don't put any time or thought into distribution when they hit "publish". Many creators have an "If we build it they will come" attitude that clearly isn't working.
So many talented creators never get the traction and communities that their content serves and deserves, because they don't realize how rigged the system is. Social media platforms that make the digital elements of community easier have stacked it in their interests instead of ours.
As a result, these platforms limit your reach to your fans by default and encourage you to pay to promote your posts. To YOUR fans. These platforms make money from advertising highly targeted ads that came about from searches you made, words your phone have recorded you saying without your knowledge, and the unrestricted access to your credit card history. And your credit card history is very valuable to advertisers.
Your personal information, scraped through these channels, is being weaponized against you. Enemy nations have found ways to hack our governments and democracies using our personal data on these platforms. China uses Linkedin to recruit spies now.
Advertisers exploit your insecurities and fears to make you buy things you don't need, with the personal data you never intended to give away for free.
I know what you're thinking:
"I never gave Facebook or Google access to my credit cards or any of this stuff. How can this be?"
The 100+ page Terms & Conditions agreements we willingly clicked on were designed so we wouldn't read them. They did this to cover their asses, not to protect us.
So what happens  when these platforms are caught listening to you or watching you without your permission? Just recently Facebook got caught watching users through their phone cameras when they scrolled their news feed. It's only a "bug" when they're caught.
Advertisers like Facebook and Google do it to improve ad effectiveness. They'll only get better at hiding their surveillance of us. Even though we've caught them red handed, nothing seems to ever happen to them.
Why aren't we hostile to those who actively exploit our privacy and weaponize our data against our own self-interests?
Facebook isn't your friend. Google isn't your friend. Amazon isn't your friend. They're pimping your personal information and making their apps increasingly addictive so you spend more time on their platform, so they can sell more ads that target you.
If we knew this would happen, I don't think we'd have been so willing to join. We can't go back now. But we can go forward in an act of defiance against these systems and powers that be.
I growth hack because we're stuck in a system that's rigged against us. We can beat the odds and win by gaming their systems and algorithms like they game our laws with excessive legalese jargon-filled "update agreements" and game our democratic institutions by refusing to fact check political advertisements.
Breaking these platforms' terms and conditions isn't a question of being unethical. It's taking a defiant stand against a system that has failed to protect us.
The system is rigged against us and controlled by people who aren’t playing fair. That's why you need an unfair advantage today.
You can start by learning The Truth About Engagement Pods.


Written by darragh | Growth Hacking and marketing AI technologist who does blockchain and digital strategy consulting on Vancouver Island.
Published by HackerNoon on 2019/11/25