This led to some hilariously bad takes. Like this article where I panned the SF Giants for drafting future World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner.
https://t.co/QhPlPhAdY1
1/ A lot of people ask me how Bleacher Report found our first writers when we were tiny and had no funding.
So here's a thread on all the things we tried, what worked best, and lessons on growing a community from scratch:
This led to some hilariously bad takes. Like this article where I panned the SF Giants for drafting future World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner.
https://t.co/QhPlPhAdY1
This got us maybe a few dozen signups.
From the email:
So we faked it til we made it.
Our team created multiple accounts and posted using different fake names. This created the sense of more activity and encouraged new members to join in.
Sometimes the solution to the "chicken and the egg" problem of building community is to create the illusion of more chickens (or eggs.)
https://t.co/5SXsXw9VNf
So we unbundled the most dominant community platform of the mid-2000's.
Yep, Craigslist.
Posting on CL was free. Our success rate improved as we iterated on copy, cadence, and communication tactics.
Craigslist netted us 100's of our first users.
Using Google, blogrolls and Technorati, we manually built a database of every active sports blog we could find. Then we emailed bloggers and pitched them on joining B/R.
Recruiting bloggers was hit or miss. Some preferred blogging solo. But a few hundred gave it a shot.
We kept growing.
We got to know our early users incredibly well. Sometimes too well.
So we took a flier (literally) on a new social network for college students that was still figuring out their business model:
And since FB was new, they were super cheap.
The results were huge. Thousands of new signups. But like most paid marketing, quality was lower.
Still, paid social helped us really scale.
1. You are your first user.
2. Look where your users already are. Bundle. Unbundle. Test new channels.
3. Be shameless about growth. If it works, it works. No judgement.
4. Treat your early users like celebrities. They will repay you 1,000x.
For more insights, read it here:
https://t.co/S0GbqOVsds
I write about building media companies, growing audiences, and the mindset and creative processes employed by prolific makers.
https://t.co/MiJbvR931N
More from Culture
I'm going to do two history threads on Ethiopia, one on its ancient history, one on its modern story (1800 to today). 🇪🇹
I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):
The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹
Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹
References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹
I'll begin with the ancient history ... and it goes way back. Because modern humans - and before that, the ancestors of humans - almost certainly originated in Ethiopia. 🇪🇹 (sub-thread):
The famous \u201cLucy\u201d, an early ancestor of modern humans (Australopithecus) that lived 3.2 million years ago, and was discovered in 1974 in Ethiopia, displayed in the national museum in Addis Ababa \U0001f1ea\U0001f1f9 pic.twitter.com/N3oWqk1SW2
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) November 9, 2018
The first likely historical reference to Ethiopia is ancient Egyptian records of trade expeditions to the "Land of Punt" in search of gold, ebony, ivory, incense, and wild animals, starting in c 2500 BC 🇪🇹
Ethiopians themselves believe that the Queen of Sheba, who visited Israel's King Solomon in the Bible (c 950 BC), came from Ethiopia (not Yemen, as others believe). Here she is meeting Solomon in a stain-glassed window in Addis Ababa's Holy Trinity Church. 🇪🇹
References to the Queen of Sheba are everywhere in Ethiopia. The national airline's frequent flier miles are even called "ShebaMiles". 🇪🇹
In a recent article published in the Stern, there is now a criminal complaint filed against Michael Inacker, the then CEO of the PR firm WMP for what includes allegations of the knock out payments from the emirate of Qatar to hide a dossier for their role in financing Hezbollah
That allegedly 750,000 euros, which would have been divided between Jason and Michael.
In return, "Jason" was supposed to keep to himself the information he had researched in Qatar, that a high-ranking person in the emirate of Qatar was financially supporting Hezbollah.
https://t.co/TdaAECu35a
There is an interesting point in the article, WMP (Inacker) still had PR contracts with both Qatar and Saudi and “Jason” had some information about arms deliveries organized by people from Qatar with suppliers in Belarus, Serbia, Macedonia, and Yemen.
That allegedly 750,000 euros, which would have been divided between Jason and Michael.
In return, "Jason" was supposed to keep to himself the information he had researched in Qatar, that a high-ranking person in the emirate of Qatar was financially supporting Hezbollah.
https://t.co/TdaAECu35a
There is an interesting point in the article, WMP (Inacker) still had PR contracts with both Qatar and Saudi and “Jason” had some information about arms deliveries organized by people from Qatar with suppliers in Belarus, Serbia, Macedonia, and Yemen.
