Terms

"I come from a company which has a structure which is based on the growth of communities due to the fact that it's an open source software," He begins. As such, he wanted to build a secure Discord community, with access to content on WordPress, which is the platform where his very first project in media, virtualization.info was hosted, which would allow him to "recycle twenty years of knowledge".

He decided to utilize WordPress, not just because of his experience and experience, but also because of its flexibility. "There is a reason that 43% of the websites on the planet utilize WordPress," he adds. The development of the plugin industry means that the results you can achieve with WordPress is incredible, and it's only a fraction of the time using other tools."

Don't compromise the importance of branding

Alessandro adds: "Many newsletter and blogging platforms offer little flexibility in terms of creating the brand. They unify the look and feel, and everybody has the exact same look and feel. You can customize the theme by a bit, and you can add your logo, but they are only minor modifications.

"Every newsletter or blog appears similar. That doesn't work for me. As I often mention on social media, do not sacrifice the option that you find most effective. Do not compromise on performing the very best job you could do to check a box. Making compromises on your work is one of the main things that sets you back over the years."

Screengrabs of the initial virtualization.info site

"I created a brand that people have a memory of from twenty years ago, and they still write to me about. I want to enjoy the ultimate liberty and freedom to design and design every single image in this site in a way that reinforces my own brand. I'd like to develop my own brand, not any other publishing brand."

Becoming valuable: niche and voice

"Two essential things to consider in the process of creating your own online publication" Alessandro continues. "The first one is to identify your market. It's easy to state, but difficult to accomplish!" he laughs.

He explains that there is nothing to gain from having an additional person covering the same topics in the same way as others with the same perspective. "You are able to cover the same topics, and that can be about cooking, politics or crochet or squash or whatever you like, but you have to take a different perspective. And that defines your niche: the way you approach things is unique."

He elaborates the concept of Synthetic Work is looking at AI from a non-technical perspective and the impact it has on economics, employment, and society. "If you look at cooking, for example, you might be in the field where your view is about the science of it, which is something is not talked about much - maybe how, at the most fundamental level of chemical it is why food tastes great.

Then the second thing is to identify your personal voice. "Human beings learn by emulating: we say, 'Wow, I like the way the person's writing style' we try to emulate this, which is wonderful and is the best way to get as much knowledge as you can. Then you have to get to a point where you create your own voice, which is terrifying!"

It's not easy to think people might not like the way you look at the world or the way you express yourself in writing about it. However, that's the only way you can stand out from the crowd. "If you've got the same style or identical approach as everyone who else, you'll be quickly forgotten."

The author continues: "People don't read for the content. This may sound counterintuitive, but people read because they believe in you: they are interested in the person you are and this interest translates into what you communicate." He advises readers to make sure their personality comes out in the voice that they speak with when talking about your subject matter.

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

Alessandro says that he's observed this phenomena for the past 20 years and still sees the phenomenon on a regular basis. For example I read an instructional guide for students who are considering the idea of pursuing a PhD that was composed by one of the co-founders of OpenAI. The guide has nothing to do with artificial intelligence. It is something that he wrote years back. In his post the author suggests attending conferences. He suggests that you look more at the program and more at the speakers. You should look for speakers you know and admire or who you've heard are great - even if what they present is not aligned with what you've researched."

Alessandro says that this is an excellent example of what he's trying to achieve to get people excited about what you do and how you talk about things, and then what you say can almost be a secondary matter. "Even when they may not be with what you say, they'll be interested in your thoughts nonetheless because they have come to respect you and think they play a significant contribution to their lives."

More information on Synthetic Work

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