Terms

"I come from a company that has a business model that depends on communities flourishing, because it's open source," the founder says. As such, he wanted to create a private Discord community that had access to content on WordPress as that's the place where his initial media project, virtualization.info was hosted, this would enable him to "recycle twenty years of knowledge".

He chose to go with WordPress and not because of his experience and experience, but also because of its flexibility. "There is a reason why 43% of websites around the globe are using WordPress," he adds. The maturity of the plugin ecosystem means what you can accomplish through WordPress is amazing and is done in a fraction of the time using other tools."

Do not compromise: the importance of branding

Alessandro adds: "Many newsletter and blogging platforms do not offer much freedom in the creation of an identity. They unite the appearance and feel, and everybody has the exact same look and feel. You can customize the theme a little or add your logo, but they are only minor modifications.

"Every newsletter or blog looks similar. This isn't working for me. Also, as I advise on social media, don't sacrifice the option that is right for you. You shouldn't be compromising on getting the most effective work you could do to check a box. Doing something you don't want to do is one of the main things which can cost you time and again and over."

A screengrab from the original virtualization.info site

"I developed a brand customers are still talking about from 20 years ago and still write to me about. I must have complete freedom and flexibility to create and shape every single pixel in this site so that it is enforcing my brand. I'd like to develop my brand and not the other publishers."

Becoming valuable: niche and voice

"Two factors are crucial in the process of creating an online magazine," Alessandro continues. "The first one is to find your niche. It's easy for you to think of, but hard to do!" he laughs.

The author explains that there's no value in having yet an additional person covering the same subjects like other individuals from the same angle. "You could cover similar issues, it can be about cooking, politics or crochet, squash, or whatever you like However, you need to have a different angle. This is what defines your area of expertise: the way you approach things is distinct."

The author explains that Synthetic Work is looking at AI from a non-technical perspective as well as how it affects the economy, jobs, industries and the society. "If you are looking at cooking for instance you could find yourself in the field where your view is based on the science behind cooking, something that rarely discussed perhaps about how, on the most fundamental level of chemical it is why food tastes great.

Then the second thing is to discover your voice. "Human is a creature that learns by imitating our surroundings. We say, "Wow I love the way the person's writing style' then you attempt to imitate that, which is great and is the best way to get as much knowledge as is possible. But then you need to get to a point where you develop your own voice. It can be scary!"

It's a bit daunting to think people might not like the way you look at the world or write about it. However, that's the only way to distinguish yourself from others. "If you have identical voice, or identical approach as everyone else, you will be quickly forgotten."

He goes on to say: "People don't read for information. That sounds counterintuitive but people are drawn to reading because they trust them: they're interested in you as a person which then translates into what you say." He urges individuals to ensure their personal style is evident in the tone they employ when speaking about your subject matter.

Alessandro present on stage at OpenStack community event on the outskirts of Silicon Valley

Alessandro notes that he's regularly seen this phenomenon for more than 20 years, and is still observing the phenomenon on a regular basis. In one instance, I was reading an instructional guide for students who are considering the idea of pursuing a PhD that was composed by one of the cofounders of OpenAI. It has nothing to do with artificial intelligence. It is an old post that was written by him years back. In his post He suggests going to events. He suggests that you look more at the program and focus more on the speaker. Make sure to choose those you have admired and know, or people you've heard are great - regardless of the fact that what they're presenting is not aligned with what you've researched."

Alessandro says that this is the perfect illustration of the point he is making that you should make people aware of your personality and how you talk about things. Then, what you say can almost be a secondary matter. "Even even if they do not agree with your views, they'll desire to hear the things you say nevertheless because they've come to respect you and think that they are playing a vital part to play in their lives."

More details on Synthetic Work

Read more about Alessandro Perilli and his Synthetic Work newsletter here: synthetic.work.