Terms

"I have a family business that has a business model that depends on communities flourishing due to the fact that it's an open source," the founder says. As such, he wanted to create a private Discord community with gated access to content on WordPress, which is the place where his initial media project, virtualization.info was hosted, it would let him "recycle twenty years of knowledge".

He chose to go with WordPress and not due to his expertise, but because of the flexibility of the platform. "There is a reason why 43% of the websites around the globe utilize WordPress," he adds. The development of the plugin industry means that the results you can accomplish through WordPress is incredible and is done in a fraction of the time using other tools."

Never compromise on the importance of branding

Alessandro adds: "Many newsletter and blogging platforms offer little choice in creating the brand. They unite the appearance and feel and everyone does exactly the same. It is possible to customize the theme a little or incorporate your logo but they are only minor modifications.

"Every newsletter or blog looks similar. It doesn't seem to work for me. As I often advise on social media, don't sacrifice the option that is right for you. Do not compromise on performing the very best job that you are able to do in order to check a box. Compromising on what you do is one of the main things that can cause you to be resentful over the years."

A screengrab from the initial virtualization.info website

"I created a brand that customers remember from 20 years ago and still write to me about. I must have the ultimate liberty and freedom to design each and every pixel of this website so that it is enforcing my brand. I want to advance my own brand, not other publishing brands."

Becoming valuable: niche and voice

"Two factors are crucial when creating an online publication," Alessandro continues. "The foremost is finding your target market. It's easy to say, difficult to do!" he laughs.

He explains that there is nothing to gain from having another person who covers the same subject matter as other people who are covering the same topics from the same angle. "You are able to cover the same issues, it may be politics, cooking or crochet, squash, or anything else you want to However, you need to be able to see things from a different angle. This is what defines your area of expertise: the way your approach to things will be unique."

The author explains that Synthetic Work is looking at AI from a non-technical point of view, and how it impacts the economy, jobs, industries and the society. "If you think about cooking for instance it could be a niche where your perspective is about the science of it, which is something is not talked about much perhaps about how, on the level of very fundamental chemical, why something tastes good.

The second step is to find your own voice. "Human creatures learn through imitation the way we think, "Wow I love the way they write' we try to emulate the way they write, which is fantastic as it allows you to master your craft as quickly as possible. However, you must get to a point where you create your own voice, which is terrifying!"

He acknowledges that it's daunting to consider that some people won't like the way you look at the world, or write about it. However, that's the only way to stand out from the crowd. "If you're using the same style or similar approach to everyone who else, you'll be quickly forgotten."

He goes on to say: "People don't read for the content. That sounds counterintuitive but people are drawn to reading because they trust them: they're fascinated by you as a person and this interest translates to what you have to share." He urges individuals to ensure their personal style is evident in the tone that they speak with when talking about your subject matter.

Alessandro performing on stage during OpenStack community event at Silicon Valley

Alessandro mentions that he's seen this phenomenon for twenty years, and continues to observe it every day. For example I read a manual for students who are considering the idea of pursuing a PhD that was written by one of the co-founders of OpenAI. This does not have anything to do with artificial intelligence; it is something that he wrote several years ago. In this article He suggests going to conferences. The author suggests looking less at the agenda and focus more on the speaker. Make sure to choose those you have admired and know or who you've heard are great - regardless of whether what they say doesn't align with your own research."

Alessandro explains that this is the perfect illustration of what he's trying to achieve to get people excited about your personality and the way in which you express things. Then, what you say can almost be a secondary matter. "Even when they may not be with your views, they'll want to listen to the things you say however, because they've grown to admire you and believe that they have a valuable part to play in their lives."

More details about Synthetic Work

Find out more information on Alessandro Perilli and his Synthetic Work newsletter on synthetic.work.