The Language of Discourse

According to a new study by David Rozado, there has been a big increase in news headlines suggesting fear, anger, disgust, and sadness since 2000, and especially since about 2010. Journalists are pushing your buttons. Since 2000 headlines in right-leaning publications have always been more negative than those in left-leaning ones, but since 2010 the left has been following the right down. Headlines in politically neutral publications have almost always been less negative than those in right- or left-leaning ones. So Occam's razor implies that the cause of increased negativity is increased polarization. That would imply that people get angrier as they move toward political extremes, and that has been my experience. People on the far right and far left seem to be distinguished less by their joyful adherence to their own doctrines than their hatred of those on the other side. Here's the full paper: https://t.co/Tl9wPXH367

Most Powerpoint presentations suck. I've produced 100's of presentations for CEO's and CFO's at a $1 billion company. Here's how to create an eye-catching presentation: Let me start by saying I am almost completely left brained. My creativity is awful. So if I could learn how to create an effective presentation, then anyone can. So here's how: Design Matters For a compelling deck, your design matters. From the typography to the colors. If you are not a creative please hire a designer or use pre-made templates. The Mighty Powerpoint Bundle is one of my favorites at a reasonable price. Use Powerful Visuals Don't fight human nature. Most people are visual. Stunning graphics and visuals are far more impactful than words on a page. 10/20/30 Rule Credit to someone I worked with that taught me this. -10 slides max -20 mins total presentation time -30 point font minimum This will also help you with brevity and clarity in your design and writing. Don't EVER Read Your Slides Unless there are blind people in your audience, assume everyone can read. Please don't read slides to them. It's honestly insulting. You are there to fill in the blanks for the audience with your speech. https://t.co/7n2DMnNk3y Study Storytelling All my presentations were financial in nature. Numbers, data, blah, blah blah, boring. To spice it up, sometimes you need to craft a narrative around your slides. Here is a great thread on storytelling by @dickiebush https://t.co/DkFf0OUyJ8 One Slide : One Idea A theme amongst many of the best presentations, is the minimalism. That goes for your ideas too. A slide is for an idea. Don't cram 5 talking points on one slide. It's distracting and we will only remember 1 point. Here are some other helpful tips: -Use Slide Numbers -Print Copies for All Attendees -Always E-Mail internally via pdf -Send externally via DocSend (can track viewings) -Write Clearly; Drop Jargon -Avoid Script Fonts (Readability) -Find Your Own Font (Can download many for free) We use these rules at The Fairfield Company to build our presentations. We have used our presentation to communicate internally as well as raise funds externally. Hope they can help you create more convincing presentations going forward. I hope you've found this thread helpful. Follow me @chrisxmunn for more. Like/Retweet the first tweet below if you can: https://t.co/5AuDJl1slZ

Third Point Q1 2022 letter: "To be an investor is to live constantly at the intersection of story and uncertainty." "Our net exposure is lower and buying power higher than at any time during the last 10 years." (@DanielSLoeb1) "We added to our single name shorts during Q1, replacing ... market hedges." "We initiated positions in oil and gas as well as in materials ... the companies will return in excess of 20% of their market caps annually should strip prices remain close to current levels" "Even after dramatic declines, it is difficult to call a bottom in the high-growth, high-valuation end of the tech sector. Many of these companies relied on stock-based compensation ... may have retention difficulties, leading to increased dilution or increased cash wages" "We fear Soros’s theory of reflexivity will come into play should such a spiral ensue." "We build our mental models, frameworks, and processes to try to accurately price securities and overlay them with a story about the economic, geopolitical, and psychological factors. The key, of course, is to change your framework when the environment changes." "Since I started Third Point 27 years ago, I have seen many investors (including myself) stumble after years of success because they did not adapt their models as conditions shifted." "I have said before that they don’t ring a bell when the rules of the game are changing, but if you listen closely, you can hear a dog whistle. This seems to be such a time to listen for that high-pitched sound." Shell "We have added to our position in Shell ... at same deeply discounted multiple today ... due to a move up in commodity prices. Shell’s LNG business will play a critical role in energy security for Europe ... the value of this business has increased dramatically" Glencore "A diversified miner that supplies copper and nickel, two metals that will be critical inputs for the transition to renewable energy. New management team, improved ESG profile, strong cash returns, ... substantial 28% discount at which it trades to other global miners" Third Point First Quarter 2022 Investor Letter May 6, 2022 https://t.co/dt3abx9YcJ

1/ On The 6529 COF (Cultural Object Framework) So I have a framework on how I think about cultural objects. I will share it. It is neither right nor wrong, like all frameworks it is just a tool. 2/ Let's start with Dunbar's Number which is the concept that we can only have about 150 stable social relationships. https://t.co/WEBzqpHgeU 3/ Researchers argue about whether the number or the mechanism is right, but I think none of that matters. I think it is pretty clear that you can't have 4,945 stable relationships. The number for most people is a 3 digit number, probably a lower 3 digit number 4/ Even if it is not a brain processing limit, it is for sure a physical limit of a different type: Time There is never ever ever enough time. Nobody has enough time to spend quality time with thousands of people. 5/ With a very optimistic view that you have 12 hrs/ day that you can dedicate to relationships of all types, that means 360 hours a month. At a couple of hours per month and perfect utilization of all your time on socialization, that is 180 stable relationships. 6/ There are variations of this idea: that you can have up to 1,500 loose acquaintances, that you can have 10-15 really close relationships that account for most of your time, and so on. The details don't matter so much. The key is we have cognitive or time based constraints. 7/ My proposed COF is that something similar exists for cultural objects: ✅We have a limit on how many cultural objects we can remember ✅We remember global, national, community, vocational objects The result of this is fractal power laws for cultural object success 8/ There are global cultural objects that most people on earth know: Coca-Cola, United States of America, Mona Lisa, Donald Trump and other similar cultural objects (brands, ideas, myths, memes) 9/ There are national cultural objects. In the United States, they may include: The Super Bowl, the Star Spangled Banner, Taco Bell, keg stands, the American Dream, Paul Revere, "I have a dream" 10/ There are local cultural objects. In downtown Manhattan, they may include: "South of Houston" (SoHo), steak frites at Raoul's, the Halloween Parade, Keith Haring, the SoHo loft, soup dumplings, a schmear of cream cheese. 11/ There are work (or hobby) related cultural objects. An investment banker might know "Liar's Poker" An photographer might know Ansel Adams and the "the rule of thirds" But a typical banker would not know "the rule of thirds", nor a typical photographer "Liar's Poker" 12/ Wait, an objection, these are just "things" Sure, they may also be physical things, but a steak frites late night at Raoul's in SoHo is as much a vibe as it is meat & potatoes. A schmear of cream cheese is an idea about NYC that is different than 87 grams of cream cheese 13/ I believe everyone's brain, at any point in time, is full of cultural objects. But they are not unlimited. I think it is a few thousand, maximum low tens of thousands of cultural objects for most people. 14/ I think most people if they started writing down, unaided, all their cultural objects they can remember will not get to hundreds of thousands. In any case, it is certainly not unlimited. 15/ I would love to know the cultural objects of Akureyri and Xi'an and Gitega. I would love to know the cultural objects of lobster fishermen in Alaska and pottery makers in Morocco and farmers in Sri Lanka. But life is short, we are bound by physics, I will never know them. 16/ So to recap, I believe: a) Everyone knows a few thousand, max low tens of thousands of cultural objects (memes) b) Everyone's cultural objects (memes) are split among global, national, local and work/hobby cultural objects 17/ True global cultural objects (memes) are the "power law" winners, there are very few of them, maybe a few dozen or low hundreds is my guess. If a meme has made it to 25%, 30%, 50% of the world population's minds, it is immensely powerful and valuable. 18/ National cultural objects in any decent sized country are also quite important, quite powerful. There also follow a power law distribution at the national level. The same applies on a smaller scale for local / job / hobby cultural objects 19/ You can summarize this as: cultural objects (memes) follow fractal power laws power laws = winners take most fractal = the same pattern repeats at different scales 20/ Now we know what we are playing for. 21/ New mediums, new distribution channels open up a portal for new cultural objects (memes) to gain traction. Today, NFT land is fighting over the global power law meme winners. Which collections, artists, memes may make it into the global pantheon of cultural objects 22/ It is why the battle for social construction is brutal and has just gotten started. My guess is 5 to 50 NFT based memes ever make it into the global pantheon of cultural objects. Those that do will be immensely powerful, but competition will be utterly unrelenting 23/ We know we are still playing in the 'global space' by the absence of serious national competitors. France has 67 million people, is proud of its language and I can't think of a single big PFP collection in French. Some day there will be dozens of big French PFP collections 24/ With this in mind, if you are an artist, you are a creator, what should you do? Go big or go focused. Nothing else is going to work and, in particular, any half-assed effort for "global" is dead on arrival. 25/ "Go big" means you want to be Coca-Cola, you want to be Nike, you want to be the Mona Lisa, you want to be Andy Warhol, you want to be the Queen of England. I wish you luck, it is a bold mission, and 99.999% of collections/artists are NGMI at this mission. 26/ "Go big" needs a lot of things to go right ✅In tune with the current vibe ✅Resources ✅Execution ✅Some idea on how you will leverage the network effects of the internet 27/ You can see how different collections are trying to play this. "Commercial rights" "CC0" "Utility" "Great art" "Team" "DAOs" "Metaverse" etc Nobody has figured it out yet, but the rate of evolution is very very fast 28/ "6529, I am just an artist, I just drop art, I don't do any of this" OK, maybe, but every artist who inspired you, themselves won a global power law outcome. The artists in the art history books memetically, one way or another, "defeated" 99.99999% of all art ever made. 29/ The alternative is to focus where vast opportunities exist, still completely untouched. You don't have to make a global brand to be super life successful, both in impact and in economics. And so far, that territory is unexplored in NFTs 30/ The key here is that being successful at the national, local, community, industry, hobby level is NOT the 2nd prize for failing at the global level. It is a different thing altogether. It requires focusing each part of your efforts on a more specific, narrower target 31/ To take a silly example. If you want to be the leading French language PFP collection, you make your collection in French, you get French influencers on-board, you outreach to the French community and you probably should be French to hit the vibe right 32/ My advice in this thread is mostly this - for 99% of artists and creators, it is better to focus to win a niche than to do the 489th best effort to go global. the 489th best global project is NGMI But hundreds of thousands of projects will make in aggregate 33/ And the trick to winning a niche is making something perfect for that niche, even if everyone else hates it. Of course, you have to pick a good niche, you need to understand that niche, you need to speak to it. Still hard, but more doable for most than "global" 34/ For professional collectors*, well the theory is easy, the execution is hard. With a global/national/local/industry lens, who makes it in 2025, in 2030? It is a feel mostly, but... * Amateurs should just buy what they like for fun 35/ ...the battles are just beginning. All the simple rules are going to fail. It is going to be harder and it will take some luck to be honest. The collections that make it will be unimaginably valuable and powerful. But most are NGMI at all 36/ So that is it, this is how I see it, it is the most exciting thing in the world right now, the battle for the cultural objects, myths and memes that run our societies. And a chance to see if we can architect them to better outcomes 37/ As always SEIZE THE MEMES OF PRODUCTION! 38/ If you are coming here for the first time, there are a lot of tweets about why an open metaverse is important here https://t.co/8HPXaRL1CF

I've now been asked multiple times for my take on Elon's offer for Twitter. So fine, this is what I think about that. I will assume the takeover succeeds, and he takes Twitter private. (I have little knowledge/insight into how actual takeover battles work or play out) (long 🧵) I think if Elon takes over Twitter, he is in for a world of pain. He has no idea. There is this old culture of the internet, roughly Web 1.0 (late 90s) and early Web 2.0, pre-Facebook (pre-2005), that had a very strong free speech culture. This free speech idea arose out of a culture of late-90s America where the main people who were interested in censorship were religious conservatives. In practical terms, this meant that they would try to ban porn (or other imagined moral degeneracy) on the internet. (Remember when it seemed very important to certain people that we ban things like this?) Many of the older tech leaders today (@elonmusk, @pmarca, etc, GenXers basically) grew up with that internet. To them, the internet represented freedom, a new frontier, a flowering of the human spirit, and a great optimism that technology could birth a new golden age of mankind. I believe that too. But I also ran Reddit. Reddit was born in the last years of the "old internet" when free speech meant "freedom from religious conservatives trying to take down porn and sometimes first-person shooters." And so we tried to preserve that ideal. That is not what free speech is about today. It's not that the principle is no longer valid (it is), it's that the practical issues around upholding that principle are different, because the world has changed. The internet is not a "frontier" where people can go "to be free," it's where the entire world is now, and every culture war is being fought on it. It's the MAIN battlefield for our culture wars. It means that upholding free speech means you're not standing up against some religious conservatives lobbying to remove Judy Blume books from the library, it means you're standing up against EVERYONE, because every side is trying to take away the speech rights of the other side. (It's also where Russia is fighting a real war against us, using free speech literally. But that's another story too) Free speech may be noble, but here's what's it's like these days: All my left-wing woke friends are CONVINCED that the social media platforms uphold the white supremacist misogynistic patriarchy, and they have plenty of screenshots and evidence ... ... of times when the platform has made enforcement decisions unfairly against innocuous things they've said, and let far more egregious sexist/racist violations by the other side pass. Woke friends: it's true, right? You have LOTS of examples. All my alt/center-right/libertarian friends are CONVINCED the social media platforms uphold the woke BLM/Marxist/LGBTQ agenda and they ALSO have plenty of screenshots and evidence of times when... ... the platforms have made enforcement decisions unfair against them for innocuous things they've said merely questioning (in good faith) the woke orthodoxy, and let far more egregious violations by the other side stand. Right-wingers and libertarians: it's true, right? You can remember PLENTY of examples. Neither side is lying. Mostly, it's really because enforcement is hard, and there are LOTS of errors. There's a separate emerging problem (more FB than Twitter) where AI models make inhumane/dystopian judgments that can't be appealed, but that's a separate issue. Both sides think the platform is institutionally biased against them. "All the top executives and board members are men." "Silicon Valley employees are overwhelming woke and left-wing." I want you to pause for a minute and think about your political alignment and whether you're on the left or right of this issue, because you probably think one of those things. And the old GenX tech titans are right there with you - vaguely left-wing but also center-right - seeing their version of "censorship" - and drawing all the wrong conclusions from it about what's happening with the management of social platforms. Elon is one of those, because he doesn't understand what has happened to internet culture since 2004. Or as I call it, just culture. I KNOW he doesn't, because he was pretty late to Bitcoin, and if he'd been plugged in to internet culture he would've been on Bitcoin way earlier. Elon's been too busy doing Actual Real Things like making electric cars and reusable rockets and fucking actresses/singers, so he has a Pretty Fucking Good Excuse For Not Paying Attention but this is also something that's hard to understand unless you've RUN a social network. I'm now going to reveal the institutional bias of every large social network (i.e. FB, Twitter, Reddit): Are you ready? Here it is... They would like you (the users) to stop squabbling over stupid shit and causing drama so that they can spend their time writing more features and not have to adjudicate your stupid little fights. That's all. They DON'T CARE ABOUT POLITICS. They really don't. Donald Trump was not de-platformed for being right-wing. I talk a bit about this in my thread about Omega Events: https://t.co/rktOKjr7ze Yes, the execs are (whatever demographic) and the employees are (whatever politics) but they don't care about it. They don't. Facebook's userbase has at various times been left-leaning, then right-leaning, then bifurcated. So has Reddit's. Twitter's also. The social platforms don't care. They kind of care about money, but mostly they wish you would shut up and be civil. But that is impossible: they (we) made a platform where anyone can say anything, largely without consequence, so people are going to be their worst selves, and social networking is now The Internet, and everyone is on it (thank you @chamath), saying WHATEVER THE HELL THEY WANT. But the platforms have to be polite. They have to pretend to enforce fairness. They have to adopt "principles." Let me tell you: There are no real principles. They are just trying to be fair because if they weren't, everyone would yell LOUDER and the problem would be worse. What happens is that because of the fundamental structural nature of social networks, it is always possible for a corner case to emerge where people get into an explosive fight and the company running the social network has to step in. Again: Omega Events Because human variability and behavior is infinite. And when that happens, the social network has to make up a new rule, or "derive" it from some prior stated principle, and over time it's really just a tortured game of Twister. You really want to avoid censorship on social networks? Here is the solution: Stop arguing. Play nice. The catch: everyone has to do it at once. I guarantee you, if you do that, there will be NO CENSORSHIP OF ANY TOPIC on any social network. Because it is not TOPICS that are censored. It is BEHAVIOR. (This is why people on the left and people on the right both think they are being targeted) The problem with social networks is the SOCIAL (people) part. Not the NETWORK (company). "The best antidote to bad ideas is not to censor them, but to allow debate and better ideas." How naive. "Debate" is a vague term, and what a social network observes that causes them to "censor" something is masses of people engaging in "debate" - that is to say: abusive volumes of activity violating spam and harrassment rules, sometimes prompting off-site real-world harm. This is what you think of when you hear "debate." This is not what is happening on social networks today. Example: the "lab leak" theory (a controversial theory that is now probably true; I personally believe so) was "censored" at a certain time in the history of the pandemic because the "debate" included ... massive amounts of horrible behavior, spam-level posting, and abuse that spilled over into the real world - e.g. harrassment of public officials and doctors, racially-motivated crimes, etc. Why is this link not being censored now? Hypocrisy? Because the facts changed? https://t.co/mZ49lG6hJK It was "censored" not because it was a wrong idea, but because ideas really can - at certain times and places - become lightning rods for actual, physical, kinetic mob behavior. That is just an unpleasant, inconvenient truth that all of you (regardless of your political leaning) need to accept about speech. Ideas really ARE powerful, and like anything else that is powerful, yes, they can be DANGEROUS. I'm sorry, it's just true. It would have been perfectly acceptable if the lab leak theory were being discussed in a rational, evidence-based manner by scientists on Twitter, but that is not what happened. Replace "lab leak theory" with whatever topic you think has been unfairly censored, and the reason it was censored (or any other action taken against it) is not because of the content of that topic, I ABSOLUTELY ASSURE YOU. It is because at Certain Times, given Certain Circumstances, humans will Behave Badly when confronted with Certain Ideas, and if you are The Main Platform Where That Idea is Being Discussed, you cannot do NOTHING, because otherwise humans will continue behaving badly. Here is what I think about Twitter: I think the last few years of @Jack's administration have been the best years of Twitter's history. I think Jack really matured as an exec, his prior experience with Twitter, then his success with Square (i.e. doing it wrong, then doing it right) really raised him to a world-class CEO level, and Twitter finally got to be "pretty good." And "pretty good" is about as good as any social network can possibly be, in my opinion. (@Jack, if you are reading this, my hat's off to you. Saying this as one of the few people who have ever run a social platform: you showed the world how it should've been done) There is a reason why Jack has a crazy meditation routine and eats one meal a deal and goes on spiritual retreats. Because it takes an INHUMAN level of mentality to be able to run something like this. Because the problems are NOT about politics, or topics of discussion. They are about all the ways that humans misbehave when there are no immediately visible consequences, when talking to (essentially) strangers, and the endless ingenuity they display trying to get around rules. These last few years, @Jack did a really good job. And whoever the midwits were who didn't think so have kicked him out, and now Elon thinks he's going to come in and fix some problems. Elon is not going to fix some problems. I am absolutely sure of this. He has no idea what he's in for. (He might hire back Jack, which might be ok, but I don't know if Jack wants the job. Who knows. All the tech titans are buddies, kind of) Elon is going to try like heck to "fix" the problems he sees. Each problem he "fixes" will just cause 3 more problems. And the worst part, the part that is going to hurt ALL OF HUMANITY, is that this will distract from his mission at SpaceX and Tesla, because it's not just going to suck up his time and attention, IT WILL DAMAGE HIS PSYCHE. I mean, it's not like he isn't already an emotionally damaged guy. (Sorry Elon, it's pretty obvious) But he has overcome a lot. And he does not need more trauma from running Twitter. And I know I'm not just projecting my own traumas from the time of running Reddit, because: Mark Zuckerberg talks about e-foiling in the mornings to avoid having to think about bad news coming in that's like "being punched in the face." Ellen Pao was horrifically scarred by her run as Reddit CEO and the active harrassment, far beyond merely adjudicating community misbehavior. Jack has his meditation retreats and unusual diets and spiritual journeys - he's an odd guy yeah - but I'm pretty sure some of that is so he can cope with All You Fucking Assholes. Never heard much from Dick Costolo, but I haven't seen him do much stand-up improv since he left Twitter, have you? Dick might still be recovering. It's not a fun job, and it's not like how anyone on the outside imagines. Elon is a very public personality, and he will be faulted by ALL SIDES any time Twitter Does Anything to Solve A Problem, even if he isn't the CEO. "Why is chairman of the board @elonmusk standing by while @<newtwitterceo> is doing X, which is wrecking Y?" "@elonmusk, how can you allow X horrible thing to happen? I thought you were against censorship!" So: my take is this: @elonmusk, I'm all with you on the Values Of The Old Internet. This is not The Old Internet. That is gone. It is sad. It's not because the platforms killed it. It is because we brought all of our old horrible collective dysfunctions onto the internet, and the internet is very fast and everyone can say anything to anyone, and the place where that happens the most is on the social platforms. (It doesn't happen very often on e.g. Amazon, except when it does, and of course that's when Amazon Censors You!) After Reddit, I took a break, and now I work in the world of Real Atoms. https://t.co/S7FFMFaQ6z It is hard. It is VERY hard. Like eating glass, as Elon would put it. But it is not as hard as running a social network. And if Elon knows what's good for him AND HUMANITY, he won't do it - he will stick with the Real Atoms, which is what we really need. If you like this thread, here's some more stuff about what I'm working on and how you can support it: https://t.co/4NCsvumlw5 And if you want the Next Big Thing: https://t.co/2EBKnlmImL Addenda: a few people have interpreted this thread as meaning that I support or that it was a justification for censorship. (That is a reasonable misinterpretation) but it is not true. I am very much against censorship. I am, for example, against the censorship of every topic that the social networks blocked during the pandemic especially. I have personally been harmed by this. However, I also understand many non-obvious things about the complex dynamics that arise in large social network platforms, and I will tell you this: Censorship is inevitable on large social network platforms. If you run one of sufficient size, you will be FORCED to censor things. Not by governments, or even by "users," but by the emergent dynamics of the social network itself. Someone also said something like, "it's unacceptable that anyone be considered the omniscient arbiter of what's true or not" (sorry if I'm misquoting you; there's a lot of replies) I also agree with that. It is impossible for anyone to do, and also terrible. Yet, the structure and dynamics of running a large social network will FORCE you to do it. IIRC, almost every large social platform started out wanting to uphold free speech. They all buckle. And it's not because certain ideas are good or bad, or true or false. It has to do purely with operational issues that arise with humans that disagree in large numbers on digital platforms. The social platforms aren't censoring you (or some idea you like) because they disagree with you. They are censoring because they are large social platforms, and ideas are POWERFUL and DANGEROUS. (That is the whole point. Ideas wouldn't be worth much if they weren't dangerous or powerful. But you can't always control what people are going to do with powerful things) What they censor has little to do with what is true or false. It has a little bit to do with whatever the current politics are, but not in the way you probably expect. Let me be clear: if you run a large social network, you will be forced by inexorable circumstance to censor certain things, you will be forced to "arbitrate" on topics you have an (inevitably) limited understanding of, and it will all be really really shitty. (The alternative is just collapse of the platform, so I guess you do always have a choice - but then you're not a social platform anymore) The process through which all of that will happen is painful, which is why I don't think Elon should do it. It is not a good use of his time, and I think his time is uniquely valuable and limited.

16 Types of Headlines/Hooks ⤵️ 1/ Writing headlines (and hooks) is one of -- if not the most -- important thing you can learn as a writer. Copywriter, ghostwriter, journalist, blogger, Twitter thread-writer... it doesn't matter. 2/ As the great adman David Ogilvy once said: “On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.” In other words... 3/ For ad copy, 80% of your writing depends on the headline. For news (which can be a good sub for content)... a 2014 @APNORC study via @washingtonpost revealed only 59% of people read past the headlines. For Twitter, the first tweet of your thread needs to hook them in. 4/ The headline's job is to... • Drive reaction • Grab attention • Prove relevance • Create curiosity • Generate emotion 5/ Or you can use Gary Bencivenga's checklist: • Urgent Problem • Unique Promise • Unquestionable Proof • User-Friendly Proposition 6/ OK, but how do you start? When I first started studying copy... I broke down and categorized headlines into the 4 @Insights colors. 🤓 I had just done the test myself. (I'm R/Y btw). 7/ Here are the four colors: 🟢 Green = Relationships (int/feel) 🔺 Red = Leadership (ext/think) 🟦 Blue = Analytical (int/think) ⭐ Yellow = Communication (ext/feel) Let's talk about each color... 8/ 🟢 Green = Relationships (introverted feelers) These are the nurturing types who have deep connections with the people in their lives. 9/ 🔺 Red = Leadership (extroverted thinkers) These are the determined, resolute people who often find themselves in leadership positions. 10/ 🟦 Blue = Analytical (introverted thinkers) These are the logical thinkers who map out every process, strategy, and plan. 11/ ⭐ Yellow = Communication These are the attention-starved fast-talkers who charm their way out of everything. 12/ So depending on what you're selling and who you're selling it to... I see each color as a COPY-VOICE that sells to a type of AUDIENCE 🟢 : Loving-Parent 🔺: Leader 🟦 : Reporter ⭐ : Dealmaker Let's talk about each one... 13/ 🟢 : Loving-Parent (Problem) This voice talks to prospects who are in pain... and need an ear first before you suggest a solution. This audience needs empathy. 14/ 🔺: Leader (Promise) This voice talks to prospects who are lost, uncertain, don't know where to go. They need somone to tell them what to do and how to do it. This audience needs education. 15/ 🟦 : Reporter (Proof) This voice talks to prospects who "don't know what they don't know". It's usually for confusing/complex markets with a lot of "inside-info" few are privy to. This audience needs exposés. 16/ ⭐ : Dealmaker (Proposition) This voice talks to prospects who are looking for a deal. They either run on emotions... or they've done their research already, so just make a offer! This audiences wants exchange. 17/ So again, in summary... Color: Voice (Tactic) | Audience Needs 🟢 : Loving-Parent (Problem) | Empathy 🔺: Leader (Promise) | Education 🟦 : Reporter (Proof) | Exposés ⭐ : Dealmaker (Proposition) | Exchange 18/ Now under each of the four colors... I've found 4 common types of headlines. So if... • You know what kind of AUDIENCE you're selling to... • Then you know what VOICE to use... • And you can write the best HEADLINES for that combo... For example... 19/ 🟢 : Loving-Parent (Problem) | Empathy Use these types of headlines: • Sick & Tired • Describe the Problem • Impossible Dream • They All Laughed... 20/ 🔺: Leader (Promise) | Education Use these types of headlines: • Gate Keeper • Miracle Worker • Life Changer • Doomsayer Prophet 21/ 🟦 : Reporter (Proof) | Exposés Use these types of headlines: • Conspiracy • Man Bites Dog • Breaking News • Unknown Scapegoat 22/ ⭐ : Dealmaker (Proposition) | Exchange Use these types of headlines: • Put Up or Shut Up • Throw Down the Gauntlet • Guarantee • Simply Benefits Driven 23/ OK, so those are your 16 headline types. And here's what I've done... I found fifty-eight (58) PROVEN headline templates and I've categorized them under each of the 16 headline types. I've put it into a one-page PDF for you. 👀 24/ Here's what I need you to do... RT the first tweet and I'll DM you the PDF. (Must be following me) https://t.co/gCQveu5P5K

Over the past 8 years, I have written more than 5,000 articles online. And accumulated 100 million+ views on the process. But guess what? I use the same 5 headline styles every single time. Because they work. 🧵👇 1/ The List Everyone says they hate listicles. ...and then they click on them. Lists are an amazing way to organize information in a way that is skimmable for the reader. The key is: If you're going to write a "7 Ways To..." article, you better deliver on your promise. Here are some of my most-viral list article titles: • 20 Things Most People Learn Too Late In Life (5M+ views) • 19 Tiny Habits That Lead to Huge Results (2M+ views) • 20 Things Nobody Tells You About Growing Up (1M+ views) Lists work when the content DELIVERS. 2/ The Story The best stories compress a mountain of information into a small handful of words. As Winston Churchill said: "If I had more time, I would have written you a shorter letter." The key to writing a Story headline is this: Be CLEAR, not Clever. Writers think in order for it to be a "story," the title needs to be something mysterious. This is a myth. Ex: one of my most viral stories ever was: What I Learned Being Betrayed By My 6 Closest Friends Growing Up You 100% know what you're getting. https://t.co/OwSaqYoraM 3/ The Opinion If you're going to have an opinion, don't say it whilst sitting on the fence. Pick a side. Plant your flag in the ground. Stand for something. Rage war. If you want to be heard on the Internet (whether you like it or not), you need to be polarizing. Writers tend to misunderstand this advice and think they need to get political. Polarizing just means knowing who your content ISN'T for. And doubling-down on who it IS for. Avoid words like: • Maybe • Might • Sometimes And use words like: • Absolutely • Always 4/ The Question If you are writing to answer a specific question your reader has, consider stating their question in the headline (and teasing the answer). Ex: one of my most viral Q&A titles ever was: How Do You Reinvent Yourself? Use These 7 Tiny But Powerful Mental Shifts The secret here is DO NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION IN THE HEADLINE. Don't say: Want To Sleep Better? Give Up Coffee, Netflix, And Twitter Instead say: Want To Sleep Better? Give Up These 3 Everyday Guilty Pleasures You have to create a curiosity gap for the reader. 5/ The Framework My favorite headline style of all. Readers LOVE frameworks. It feels like you're handing them a package with a note on top that says: "Do this, it's a shortcut." Frameworks can be: • How To guides • Templates • Exercises • Etc. https://t.co/tTTyN8Jxpk But in a Framework headline, there are 3 big things you need to communicate: • What's the name of the framework? • Who is it for? • And why is it so helpful/important? Ex: The Endless Idea Generator: A Simple 5-Step Process For Generating 100 Article Ideas In 30 Minutes 99% of viral content on the Internet fits within these 5 headline styles (whether you realize it or not). They are everywhere. Look at the next news notification on your phone—I bet it fits one of these styles. So, use what works. And make it your own. If you want to go down the rabbit hole of writing online, proven styles, headline formulas, etc., here's a great resource to get you started: https://t.co/T4CysXEIBl

Most people suck at storytelling. Here’s an easy trick for telling better stories: When I’m telling a story, sometimes I get nervous. I can’t tell what my audience is thinking. Are they silently enthralled–or asleep? 👀 Ideally, you want the confidence to know: ✔️ Does my audience care? ✔️ How do I know what to say? ✔️ Am I giving too much detail? Here’s a simple trick: Aim to make your audience’s *eyes light up*. I call it ELU for short. The ELU moment happens when your audience is viscerally excited about your story. When your audience’s eyes light up: • Their energy level shifts • They perk up and look alive • They are actively here with you These are the clues you’re on the right track. The key: Stack as many Eyes Light Up moments as possible. The best stories are one ELU moment after another. That’s why they feel fast-paced, with rhythm and momentum. Have you noticed you’re best at telling stories you’ve told 100 times? It’s because you know exactly what all the ELU moments are! You know when people will gasp, frown, or hold their breath. Translation: You know the eyes light up moments. And you’re stacking them hard. ELU will tell you everything you need to know about how your audience feels. People are not great at acting. They can’t hide their emotions. They might say “That’s interesting…” But their face shows they’re almost asleep. They’re trying to be polite. If your audience looks dead, change what you’re talking about. Boring parts? Trim it. Backstory no one cares about? Trim it. Going down a rabbit hole and your audience looks confused? Trim it. Get back on track. Get back to making their eyes light up. We all know what makes a good story: • Conflict • Narrative arc • Stakes that make the audience care • Show, not tell • Etc etc etc It’s hard. But one thing is for sure: You don’t tell a great story simply because you memorized a bunch of tactics about storytelling. When you’re too focused on tactics, you miss out on the most important thing: Getting data about what is resonating with your audience. When I say “data,” I don’t mean numbers. I mean qualitative data… Like how their face looks. People lie, but faces don’t. “The problem with market research is that people don't think how they feel, they don't say what they think and they don't do what they say." Ogilvy said it best. You can’t trust what people say. So don’t just listen to what they say. Watch for how they behave. How to apply this in your daily work: Practice different versions of your story. Meet 15 people at a party? Test 15 different ways to tell your story. Notice when their eyes light up (& when their eyes glaze over). Refine accordingly. For personal stories: You’ll see which parts get your audience on the edge of their seats. For product and company stories: You’ll understand what your customer is most excited to hear about. Cut out all the boring parts your customer or audience doesn’t care about. Yep, kill those darlings. You want to save room for the good parts. https://t.co/vv9wtRaLuI The Eyes Light Up framework will help you answer: ✔️ What parts do prospective customers actually care about? ✔️ What should you spend more time talking about? ✔️ What keywords get them to perk up? You should definitely still learn storytelling strategies and tactics. There are plenty and there’s no limit to how good of a storyteller you can be. But when you’re in the moment telling your story? Stay present. Watch for what gets your audience’s eyes to light up. That’s it for today. If you found this thread valuable: 1. Follow me for more threads on entrepreneurship, education, and marketing → @wes_kao 2. Maven is hiring. Come join a fast-paced, high-performing team that's building the future of education https://t.co/vkujvtWZES

How Adobe tricks users into a 12 month contract. Thread. The homepage starts with a very clear offer. "Starting at £49.84/mo". Let's click the "Free trial" button. The next page has very little information on it. "7 days free, then £49.94/mo". Let's click the "Start free trial" button. This page seems innocent enough. "7-day trial"... "Due now £0.00". ... Recurring billing starts only after your 7-day free trial ends". That sounds nice. Most people will think "Gee that's great, where's my credit card?" But what does "Annual plan, paid monthly" actually mean? Let's fill in our email address and press continue. Maybe that's explained on the next page. By clicking "Start free trial", we're tied into a clickwrap agreement (though you'd be forgiven for not noticing the tiny writing). "By starting my 7-day free trial, I am beginning a subscription and I agree to the subscription and cancellation terms and Terms of Use" We're now venturing into territory where most people probably don't go. Let's click the "subscription and cancellation terms" link. What's all this tiny grey writing? Funny how the heading "Enjoy your 7 day free trial!" is so big, yet this text is so very small and feint. Blah blah blah. Nothing remarkable here. But wait! What's that at the bottom, "Cancellation Terms:" Can I scroll? Ooh, I can scroll. That was not obvious at all. "Should you cancel after 14 days, you'll be charged a lump sum of 50% of your remaining contractual obligation and your service will continue until the end of the month's billing period" What does this mean? It took me a while to get the facts, but it turns out that by clicking "Start free trial", we are tied into an annual contract. It's just shy of £50 a month. £50x12 months = £600. If we want to leave, we have to pay 50% of the outstanding ANNUAL BALANCE! E.g. If we want to leave in the first month, we're on the hook for ≈£300. Plus, our access to the products get cut off at the end of the first month. After a bit of googling I found this article on adobe's website that explains it a bit better. https://t.co/0yYhG3vxUK Let's recap: 1. The total annual cost was hidden 2. The 50% cancellation free was hidden. 3. The clickwrap agreement text was much smaller than the sales text (e.g. "£0.00", "Start free trial") 4. The cancellation terms were hard to find Should this be permitted? Here's a (now deleted) thread from last year that can be found on the internet archive wayback machine: https://t.co/XPAEJaARg9

most people's writing is boring, or too complicated. here's 7 things that will make you a better writer. Let's start with the most non-obvious tip: 1 - look at what I did in the first tweet. I created a "curiosity gap" ---> what are the 7 things? ...then I punched it up "let's start with the least obvious one" ---> ooh, I wonder what it is the goal of line 1 is to get you to line #2. Practice curiosity gaps. #2 - Copy other people wanna learn music? Play covers of songs wanna learn to cook? Use recipes wanna learn to write? Start by HANDWRITING someone elses writing that you like. It's called "copywork". It is the cure for writers block. Do this or else...*dun dun dunnnn* #3 - Write like you talk see how I put a sound effect at the end of the last tweet? It's like I'm talking out loud. Here's a tip. if you don't know what to write, just start talking out loud. Then write down what you said. Then go back and delete the umms & extra words #4 - Forget What You Learned In School Schools reward you for: - using big words - and writing long essays ("minimum word count") The real world is the opposite. Great writing is: - simple words - shorter the better #5 - Write like a boss Writing is a killer way to stand out inside a company. Here's a simple format on how to write inside a company: WHAT, WHY, SO WHAT? eg. WHAT happened? WHY did it happen? SO WHAT are we gonna do about it? Those 3 = clear crisp communication It works for stuff that happened AND for things that are coming up (eg. launching a new project) WHAT are we going to do ? WHY are we going to do it ? SO WHAT do we need you to do? #6 - EMOTION is the goal Most people think writing is about transferring INFORMATION but writing is actually about transferring EMOTION Emotion gets people to take action (like, share, buy, etc.), not information. Fear, Greed, Anger, Hope, Love, Certainty are your tools #7 - Practice. Ok this is the obvious one. You get good at anything through practice & coaching. You gotta get reps. And if you want coaching, I teach a course called Power Writing (https://t.co/b2uSPdS6yS) a few times a year to go in detail on each one of these & more not a bad sales letter eh?

Writing education is broken. Here's how we can improve it: Problem #1: Teachers don't tell students why writing is important. Great writers have a stamp in the record of history. Warriors define the years. Philosophers define the centuries. Good writers can make more money, attract like-minded people, and shape history from their couch. Problem #2: Students only write for the teacher. Imagine if only one person ever read your writing. You wouldn't write much. Kids should write for an audience. Once their ideas spread, they'll get hooked on the craft. As a friend says: "Compliments lead to competence." Problem #3: Students don't learn digital note-taking: Question: You've spent hours in a classroom, but where are your notes? Chances are, you have no idea. The better your system for saving and searching through ideas, the more deliberately you can develop your own over time. Problem #4: English departments teach writing: Unlike real life, writing education is focused on five-paragraph essays, most of which are about literature. But writing is so much more than book reports. For example, good business writing is highly rewarded in the workplace. Problem #5: Our essays disappear: Ideas are forgotten when people aren't encouraged to save them. Publish your best writing on a forum or a personal website. Then, share those ideas with friends, family, and strangers who'd be interested. Problem #6: Left-brained myopia: Most writing education is focused on the logical side of the brain, such as grammar & syntax. But what about the right side of the brain? Teachers should stress the importance of play, emotion, and conversation in the writing process. Problem #7: School writing is a solo experience: We're taught to write by sitting in a quiet room and focusing on the computer. But our best ideas often come by talking. Conversations are the first draft of our thinking. The better your conversations, the better your ideas. Problem #8: Students don't have enough agency: Kids are obsession machines. But those obsessions don't always look serious to adults who force them to focus on academic subjects instead. Let kids choose the topic. The more passionate they are, the faster they'll learn to write. Problem #9: Writing doesn't feel relevant: If you want to get things done in the world, you have to think clearly. Writing helps you sharpen your thinking and get what you want. If you're a kid, writing can help you raise your allowance or get that exciting new video game. If we want kids to write, we have to de-emphasize five-paragraph book reports and show kids why writing well is so useful. Writing makes the world come alive. If you want to read the full thread, here's a screenshot.

The greatest founders in the world all have something in common. A "founder story" that's a massive marketing asset. Follow this 7-step framework to create yours... [🧵thread] 1/ The Obstacle To start, it's important that your audience can relate to your story. And there's one critical thing that's relatable to anyone: Overcoming an obstacle. My example: I got fired 3 times by the time I was 28 and was basically a failure heading into 2010. 2/ The Internal Struggles Internal struggles are how we feel inside because of the obstacle above. Internal pain is captured with words like fearful, insecure, or worried. My example: After getting fired 3x, I was worried that I was never going to be successful at anything. 3/ The External Struggles External struggles can be seen or heard. An over-drafted bank account, a lost job, a poor living situation. My example: My buddies made fun of me for living in tiny towns & getting fired. A girlfriend even dumped me because I had too much debt. 4/ The Change Event The change event is the critical decision you made that leads you from your struggle to your newfound transformation. My example: I took a bus ride from Allentown, Pennsylvania to New York City to interview at a small technology company called ZocDoc. 5/ The Spark The spark is that magic moment when you realize everything is about to change. When you went from feeling completely disconnected to reinvigorated. My example: When I started working at ZocDoc, I was sparked by the product, the people, and the energy of the city. 6/ The Guide The guide in the story is the person who lifts you up and helps you see your potential for what it really is. My example: After years of making no sales in my previous jobs, my boss Ryan went out with me on my first day and helped me make a sale. 7/ The Result The result is the continuation of the story to even greater success, leading up to your present situation. My example: I never looked back. I got promoted multiple times and went on to become an executive at a startup company in LA at age 33. Telling a compelling story isn't just for startup founders, though. It's for anyone building a business online. And everyone who has a story you admire has absolutely crafted it. Here's a simple cheat sheet you can reference when you're putting yours together: Practicing yours using the 7 steps gives you a consistent answer to the "tell us your backstory" question. It's great for: - Content - Podcasts - Webinars - Your "about" section - Sharing with prospects When you get it right, it's a massive sales & marketing asset. Well, that's all for today. If this was helpful, feel free to RT or give me a follow. I'm currently building 4, one-person businesses to over $5M in revenue. Have any questions? Ask away. Happy to give out as many helpful tips as I can muster today. Thanks for reading.

Want to accelerate your career? Write better. THREAD: The principles of powerful business writing: What do Buffett, Musk, & Bezos have in common (besides $$$)? They know powerful writing isn't an accident—clear writing is clear thinking. The principles of great business writing: • Draft Fast, Edit Slow • KISS • Clear Target Reaction • Storytelling Let's cover each: Principle 1: Draft Fast, Edit Slow There's nothing more daunting than a blank page. So start fast—get a draft down (and don’t fret if it sucks). My friend @Julian said it best: “Making something bad then iterating until it’s good is faster than making something good upfront.” My "Write-Rest-Review" framework: Get the first draft down as quickly as possible. Walk away for 5 minutes—go for a walk, grab a coffee, whatever. Come back and review it. What's missing? Where are the logical flaws? When you review with "new" eyes, good things happen. Principle 2: Keep It Simple, Stupid Most people assume that longer, more complex writing will impress and inspire. It doesn't. Great business writing is simple and direct. There's no fluff or handwaving—it's tactical. A few actionable tips to tighten and simplify: Cut the Fluff In school, we were taught to heap descriptors into our writing—we were told it made it more vibrant. (It also helped fill out the word or page count we were forced to hit!) In the real world, those fluff words are assassins of punchy, powerful business writing. Review your draft with an eye towards removing any unnecessary words & sentences. Some common fluff: • "I think X" • "very" (or similar adverbs) • Acronyms • Jargon • $10 words (fancy for no reason) Be ruthless in identifying and eliminating the fluff words & sentences. Shorten Everything Powerful business writing is very similar to powerful Twitter writing. Shorter is better. Use short sentence structures. Space sentences or paragraphs out to make the writing more optically pleasing. Great business writing should be engaging to the eye. Add Data This is a classic principle instilled by @JeffBezos in Amazon's writing-centric culture. Replace fluff words with data. Before: "The majority of viewers loved the show." After: "95% of viewers rated the show with 5-stars." Clear & much more impactful. Principle 3: Clear Target Reaction Great business writing has a clear target reaction—a deliberate purpose or aim. That target reaction should be experienced by the reader immediately. As my friend @SamParr says: "Punch the reader in the face with your first sentence." Amazon calls it the "so what?" test. Before you share any piece of business writing, identify the "so what?" of the piece. What reaction, value, or takeaway should the audience have? Is it coming across loud and clear? If not, go back to the drawing board and punch harder. Principle 4: Storytelling Storytelling is a foundational skill—but it's one we don’t learn in the traditional education system. It's no coincidence that the greatest CEOs & founders are the greatest storytellers. High-leverage storytelling is a supercharger for all endeavors. Humans are storytelling creatures—we developed around campfires. Lean into it. Adding a story to a memo on a dry topic can bring the entire piece to life. Simple, crisp stories enhance the power of the message. Here's a thread I wrote on principles of effective storytelling: https://t.co/xOfxIcSidi A few ideas (without contradicting the KISS principle): Add a mini anecdote to illustrate a point. Use a folksy one-liner to draw people in (Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger are the MASTERS of this). A storytelling touch will make your writing punch well above its weight. Better business writing can change your life. To summarize, the key principles: • Draft Fast, Edit Slow • KISS • Clear Target Reaction • Storytelling Start using these and I guarantee you will see improvement. Follow me @SahilBloom for more threads on business and finance! I write deep dives on these topics in my newsletter—enhanced by audio versions and visuals—every single week. Join the 45,000+ others and subscribe below so you don’t miss them. https://t.co/qMB8i60ney And if you are a job seeker looking to leverage improved business writing to level up your career, check out my job board, where I share unique roles in tech and finance every single week. https://t.co/OrTeubzGii For more on business writing, I recommend following @Alexgarcia_atx—his work has been foundational to my own development and thinking on these topics. A few more of my favorite accounts for learning about writing: @amandanat @david_perell @wes_kao @ShaanVP

What do Buffet, @patrickc, Gates, and Bezos have in common? Obviously, they're really rich. But, all are also very strong writers. So, I spent this past weekend studying how to write better. Here are the 10 biggest things I learned. 1/x 1/ Don’t Mumble. When you have something to say, just say it. So many writers bury their point. Or hide it at the end! That may be how the narrative is in your brain. But people want you to get to the point ASAP! 2/ Use Short Everything Nobody wants to read your long-ass rambling. It slows readers down. Use short sentences, words, and paragraphs. 3/ Use Thrift A River Runs Through It has a great movie scene. The dad schools his son at home. He forces the son to rewrite his work over and over. “Again, half as long,” he says. Always ask, “How can I make this shorter?” I try to remove 50% of words twice before I'm done 4/ Write for 4th Graders Great business writing targets a 4th-grade reading level. The Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FK) scores your writing level. Microsoft Word includes it for free! But you have to turn it on. Google “How to Find the Readability Score in Word” 5/ Never Passive Active tense brings energy to your writing. Passive is: “Joe is safely back home.” Active is: “Joe returned home safely.” Happily, Word also counts your active tense! I try to keep passive tense less than 10% in my writing. 6/ Casual over Formal Think how lawyers write. You want to do the opposite in your writing. No jargon without good reason. Use common words. Write the way you talk. * *Unless you talk like a jackass. 7/ Avoid Ambiguity Pro twitter writers know ambiguous posts maximize engagement. They allow both sides to argue with you. But, vague writing actually wastes your reader’s time And hurts your ability to communicate effectively. Be clear and concrete. 8/ Precision Which carries more weight? a) “That dinner was a rip-off!” b) “That dinner was $1,500 for @applebees!” Of course, the dollar amount turbocharged option (b)! Quantify when you can. It brings power to your writing. 9/ Avoid Exaggeration Sadly, Twitter rewards exaggeration. But great writing avoids it entirely. Why? Stretching the truth destroys your credibility. Like mom told you, Don’t lie or exaggerate to make your writing work. Or you risk losing your reader's trust. 10/ Use Tools Microsoft Word and Grammarly are tools to fix your grammar. They help you use the right words! Nothing loses credibility faster than poor spelling. Or, confusing wrong words like “You’re” versus “Your”. That means you’re sloppy or dense. Neither is acceptable! Before I close this, I wrote this thread in Word. I used 0.0% passive sentences. And a 3.9 grade writing level. So, you can use this thread for bedtime reading with your 4th grader, dear friends.😊 I researched this by watching videos and reading some books. My favorite was this one. Some of the above were taken verbatim from it, as well! Very practical as you work to communicate better. Whether you write emails, tweets or letters... It's great! tl;dr: Do these 10 things to write better: 1) Don’t mumble. 2) Use short everything 3) Use thrift 4) Write 4th grade English 5) Never passive voice 6) Casual over formal 7) Avoid ambiguity 8) Be Precise 9) Don't exaggerate 10) Use tools It can change your life!

Ongoing thread on category creation 1. You want to fill in this phrase: [your company], the global leader in x x, the category name, should be 2-3 words. Make one deeply familiar to the audience. Make the others pique curiosity You want people to feel both safe and interested 2. Frustrate older competitors because your product has something in common. The best messaging has one foot in the known and one in the unknown / new. Make competitors explain their product through lens of your category, specifically the new element you’ve introduced. 3. Tie the category to inexorable trends. Describe how the category is being enabled by external trends (technological, social, or otherwise) to explain why the category will grow and win. 4. To be the true global leader in a new category, you must start small and hyper focused to make it true. Never lie about what’s possible today. But also never mute or dull the scope of your ambition for what it’ll become. 5. Make the driving element of your product, the aspect which makes it new and was hard for you to build, the center of your messaging and roadmap. You need to compound your strength in the new area to constantly widen gap vs others. 80% if resources go to category leader.

One cold email can change your life. Here's how to write a great one: I’ve sent (and received) a lot of cold emails—some great, some not. What I've learned: a cold email success is never an accident. The features of a great cold email: • Short & Sweet • Personalized • Credentials or Social Proof • Create Value • Clear CTA Let's cover each: Short & Sweet If you're sending a cold email to someone, remember that the person receiving it probably gets a lot of these. They don't have time (or energy) to read through long and winding notes. Keep it short and sweet. Space out the text to make it optically inviting. Personalized No one likes a generic email—it's auto-deleted 99% of the time. Personal touches make all the difference. A few ideas: • Reference a book they love • Mention a podcast they were on • Compliment their work Make it clear you didn't send out hundreds of the note! Credentials or Social Proof Infuse credentials or social proof—i.e. reasons the person should take you seriously. Don't be humble—let it shine. What have you done or created that is interesting or notable? Who has engaged? Show them they would be crazy to ignore your email. Create Value The foundational rule (in business & life): create value, receive value. If you create value for the person you’re emailing, they are much more likely to engage. What can you do to save them time or reduce their stress? It can be small—a little goes a long way. Clear CTA Every successful cold email has a very clear call-to-action. It has to be specific and succinct. Use hard enters and spacing to make sure it stands alone in the body of the email. It should be effortless to find and understand the ask. Be bold, but don't overreach. Now that we’ve covered the key features, let's look at a few of my favorite examples of successful cold emails. I'll breakdown why they worked (using the key features we just covered): Email from @niraj to @evanspiegel ✅ Short & Sweet ✅ Credentials ✅ Clear CTA Brilliant example of effective brevity. Any high school junior who has done this much and is bold enough to make this ask deserves to be taken seriously. Email from @david_perell to @tylercowen ✅ Personalized ✅ Social Proof ✅ Clear CTA Amazing email (that led to some amazing things). The personal touches at the beginning show clear effort. Tons of social proof (Neil deGrasse Tyson, Seth Godin). Clear CTA and plan of attack. Email from @RohunJauhar to @chamath ✅ Short & Sweet ✅ Create Value This is probably the best example I’ve seen of creating value in a cold outreach. They built Chamath a website for his teased CA Governor run and emailed him the landing page. Hard to ignore that effort! https://t.co/s6zMXWR6bj Cold emails changed my life—they can change yours too. To summarize, the key features to leverage: • Short & Sweet • Personalized • Credentials or Social Proof • Create Value • Clear CTA Start infusing these and I guarantee you will improve the conversion of your efforts. Follow me @SahilBloom for more threads on business, finance, careers, and decision-making. I also write deep-dives on many of these topics in my newsletter. Join the 41,000+ and subscribe today! https://t.co/qMB8i6hY66 And if you are a job seeker, check out my job board, where I share unique roles in finance and tech every week. If you are a company that is hiring, DM me for details on how you can post your roles and have them featured in my Twitter and newsletter. https://t.co/33hwlEIz2u

One of the most legendary marketers of all time: David Ogilvy In 1982, David wrote an internal memo to the employees of his advertising agency titled "How to write." And in just 10 bullets he put together a masterclass in effective writing. Here's a breakdown of each one: The memo starts with a clear *why* "The better you write, the higher you will go in Ogilvy & Mather. People who think well, write well. Good writing is not a natural gift. You have to learn to write well." Replace "Ogilvy & Mather" with any company and this holds true. 1. Read the Roman-Raphelson book on writing. Read it three times. Every company on Earth would be a better place if this book was required reading before email permissions were given. If you are still sending emails with Walls of Text, order this. https://t.co/wgt0EOCNl0 2. Write the way you talk. Naturally. "Finding your writing voice" is a waste of time. You already have your voice - the one you use every day. How to start using it in your writing? • Choose a topic • Record yourself talking about it Then, transcribe it and start there. 3. Use short words, short sentences, and short paragraphs. This one takes practice. But the easiest way to find when you're being too wordy? Read everything aloud before you publish it. When you find yourself getting caught up, it's a sign you need to simplify. 4. Never use jargon words like "reconceptualizes, demassification, attitudinally, judgementally." Here's how to think about jargon; When you see someone using it, they're hiding their lack of understanding. An easy solution: pretend you are writing to an 8th grader. 5. Never write more than two pages on any subject. 99% of books should be blog posts. And 99% of blog posts should be tweets. I would preface this by saying: never *publish* more than two pages on any subject. If it can't fit in two pages, it should be simpler. 6. Check your quotations. This one is simple enough. Misquotes are unforced errors. 7. Never send a letter or memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning, then edit it. This is the number one piece of writing advice I can give people. If you are publishing something important, always, always, give it room to breathe. And always read it aloud. 8. If it something important, get a colleague to improve it. This pairs nicely with point number 7. If it's something really important, write it, give it a day, edit it, then send it to a colleague. Here's how @tferriss requests edits: https://t.co/ui9X1bAgm0 9. Before you send your letter or memo, make sure it is crystal clear what you want the recipient to do. So simple, but easy to forget. Put yourself in the reader's shoes and identify exactly the next step they should take after reading. Then, articulate those steps for them. 10. If you want ACTION, don't write. Go and tell the guy what you want. Last and most importantly, writing is never a replacement for a targeted conversation. In fact, most emails and messages should be direct conversations, especially ones that require action. The best writers will shape the future. And the companies that create a culture of writing will shape the future as well. If you enjoyed this thread: • Follow me @dickiebush for weekly threads on writing and building • Check out my past threads: https://t.co/GIVdfYvXZI The TL;DR: • Never use jargon • Use shorter words • Write how you talk • Check your quotations • Read "Writing That Works" • Give your writing time to breathe • Get edits on important messages • Never write more than two pages Staples these on your desktop. If you want to put these principles into practice immediately, check out Ship 30 for 30. You'll learn the fundamentals of writing online by writing and publishing every day for 30 days. Not to mention, you'll learn alongside 250+ other writers. https://t.co/JJNKZQKb75 We all have those colleagues that should staple these 10 tips to their desktop. Jump back up to the top of the thread and share it so (maybe) they'll get the message. https://t.co/Ro4SGrcXQu

Want to master business writing? You should. Top business ppl like Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, and Sherly Sandberg have mastered the art of business writing. One Bezos shareholder letter and you'll notice it. It can be taught. Give me 5 min 🧵 1. Business Writing Is About Clarity and Persuasion How to do this? Keep things simple. Simple = Persuasive @ScottAdamsSays, “A good argument in five sentences will sway more people than a brilliant argument in hundred sentences.” 2. Remove Useless Words Cut out the extra words. Prune your sentence. Don’t use words that you think add a little zest. For example: “The very best way to do this” - wrong “The best way to do this” - right 3. First Sentence Is Your Attention Graber @samparr says, “to punch the reader in the face with your first sentence.” Your first sentence is everything. It’s just like fishing. Your first set the hook. Then you reel the fish in. Your reader is no different. 4. Short Sentences The writer's K.I.S.S. Keep it short stupid. Each sentence should focus on one idea. Many thoughts in one sentence are confusing. Warren Buffett’s infamous annual letter to shareholders averages 13.5 words per sentence. 5. F*ck a Cliche Don’t use them. They’re unnecessary placeholders in writing that should be scratched. Replace the word or phrase. I wish I could say they increased conversions by 35%. But no, they’re lame. 6. Active vs. Passive Voice Passive: Each idea is organized in your brain. Active: Your brain organizes each idea. An active voice uses the sentient structure: subject + verb + object  It’s easier for your brain to imagine the object before the action. 7. Tell Stories To Simplify Your brain spazzes when something is too complex. Consumers experience this too. To simplify it, tell a story. A story will help break down complex ideas into digestible info. I learned these from studying two greats: @ScottAdamsSays @theSamParr They wrote it first: Scott -https://t.co/atWCETXb17 Sam - https://t.co/0j454kP6Zj Would this help you? - marketing breakdowns - copywriting tips - how-tos - campaign dissection If so, follow @alexgarcia_atx :) Because I'm writing a thread for 28 days straight covering everything marketing. It's also a daily newsletter that I send to 2k+ marketers. (over 50% of them open it daily) You can join them 👇 https://t.co/mfNiY6X8Gb 1. It's about clarity and persuasion 2. Remove useless words 3. First sentence is an attention grabber 4. Short Sentences 5. F*ck a cliche 6. Active vs. Passive 7. Tell stories to simplify

1/8 Thread: The boon and bane of writing well Mark Sellers once gave a famous speech to a group of Harvard MBAs. It was titled, "So You Want To Be The Next Warren Buffett? How’s Your Writing?" In his speech, he equated writing well to being able to think clearly. https://t.co/tHL6i5KdmM 2/8 It makes intuitive sense, and in general, I agree. If you want to be the next "Buffett", you probably do need to write clearly, speak eloquently, be quantitatively oriented, and perhaps more importantly, be lucky. 3/8 But I wonder whether it is harder for good writers to change their mind. The whole thing sort of reminds me of competitive debates. During college, I got the opportunity to adjudicate competitive debates. I even went to World University Debating Championship. 4/8 In British Parliamentary format, four teams are given a motion i.e. topic just ~15 minutes before the debate starts. Two teams speak for the motion, and two against the motion. As an adjudicator, you have to rank four teams after the debate and then explain it to them. 5/8 It was in competitive debate I truly understood that some people have an incredible gift in rhetoric that you can instantly give them any motion and any side (for/against) and they can still beat you in a debate in front of an audience. 6/8 The whole thing made me appreciate the power of rhetoric and be reluctant to equate truth to rhetoric. Perhaps the same can be applied to writing as well. Some people are just gifted writers. They can play with words so well that people are tempted to equate that with truth. 7/8 If you write really well, it is perhaps not hard for you to make bull or bear case for any stock. And since you write so well, you can always argue your way out of it unless you yourself are deeply interested/paranoid about knowing the truth. 8/8 It is also why I feel any investing research without skin in the game is like monopoly money. It can be fun to read, but hard to assign much value to it. If you want to read the entire Mark Sellers speech, go here: https://t.co/IxHKSbHyu7

One of the most impressive things about Wikipedia is that it repeatedly produces clear writing. Their editing guidelines double as excellent writing advice: 1) Don’t argue from authority 2) Avoid acronyms 3) Consider the inverted pyramid strategy https://t.co/fYy3x53SUf You rarely go on Wikipedia and say “I didn’t understand the article because it was so poorly written,” but that’s the base case for [[Reading]] academic papers. Wikipedia is proof that complex ideas can be explained without a complex writing style. Open moderation guidelines are another thing we should celebrate about Wikipedia. Their governance standards are free for anybody to review, in contrast to Google and social media platforms which are a black box.

To improve your writing, binge-read your favorite writers and shamelessly copy their style “Wait, are you serious?” Yes, and the best authors go a step further. Hunter S. Thompson once wrote down every word of the Great Gatsby so he could feel what it’s like to write a great novel. There are two insights here: 1) When you copy your favorite writers, you’ll absorb their style. 2) If you can’t find your voice, copy people and pay attention to moments of resistance. At times, you’ll want to write something different — those moments reveal your unique style. Musicians copy the greats all the time when they practice their scales. It’s boring but it works. The mechanics of music become clear not when you listen to it, but when you play it yourself. The same is true for writing. Jack London famously improved his writing by copying Rudyard Kipling. He said: “As to myself, there is no end of Kipling in my work. I have even quoted him. I would never possibly have written anywhere near the way I did had Kipling never been. True, true, every bit of it.” Benjamin Franklin copied his favorite writers too! Here’s what he wrote in his autobiography: “I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it.” Robert Louis Stevenson used a three-step process: 1) He picked a passage from a writer he respected 2) He read the passage twice, very carefully 3) He re-wrote the passage word-for-word from memory, without looking at it as he wrote Watching painters copy the art on the walls is one of my favorite things to do at a museum. They don’t mind when you watch them, so it’s the closest I routinely get to watching skilled painters in action.

How to Write Usefully — paulgraham.com/useful.html