Terms

"I come from a company with a model of business that depends on communities flourishing due to the fact that it's an open source software," he begins. So, he decided to establish a private Discord community, with access to content on WordPress and that's the place where his initial media project, virtualization.info was hosted, which would allow him to "recycle twenty years of knowledge".

He decided to utilize WordPress, not just because of his knowledge however, but due to its flexibility. "There are a number of reasons why 43% of websites in the world are using WordPress," he adds. The maturity of the plugin ecosystem means what is possible with WordPress is amazing and can be done just an incredibly short amount of time using other tools."

Don't compromise branding is essential.

Alessandro continues: "Many newsletter and blogging platforms do not offer much choice in creating the brand. They unite the appearance and feel, and everybody does exactly the same. You can customize the theme slightly, and you can incorporate your logo but those are just minor tweaks.

"Every blog or newsletter appears identical. That doesn't work for me. Also, as I advise on social media, don't sacrifice the option that you find most effective. Don't compromise getting the most effective work that you are able to do in order to check a box. Compromising on what you do is one of the main things which can cost you time and again and over."

Screengrabs of the initial virtualization.info site

"I have created a brand users are still talking about from 20 years ago, and they still write to me about. I must have complete ability and the freedom to make each and every pixel in this site to ensure it's promoting my personal brand. I want to advance my own brand, not the other publishers."

Becoming valuable: niche and voice

"Two things are incredibly important when you try to create an online magazine," Alessandro continues. "The first one is to find your niche. It's easy to state, but difficult to achieve!" he laughs.

He explains that there is not any value in having an additional person covering the same subject matter as other people who are covering the same topics from the same angle. "You can cover the same topics, and that can be about cooking, politics or crochet, squash, or whatever else you'd like to cover However, you need to take a different perspective. That is the essence of your niche: the way you approach things is unique."

He elaborates the concept of Synthetic Work is looking at AI in a non-technical way, and how it impacts economics, employment, and the society. "If you look at cooking, for example it could be the field where your view is based on the science behind cooking, something that is not talked about much or even how at the most fundamental level of chemical it is why food tastes great.

Second, you need to find your own voice. "Human creatures learn through imitation: we say, 'Wow I love the way they write' then you attempt to imitate the way they write, which is fantastic - that's the way to get as much knowledge as you can. But then you need to reach a stage where you can develop your own voice, which can be scary!"

It's not easy to imagine that people may not appreciate the way that you look at the world or write about it, but that's the only way to stand out from the crowd. "If you're using identical voice, or identical approach as everyone other people, you'll be quickly forgotten."

He goes on to say: "People don't read for the content. That sounds counterintuitive but people read for the reason that they believe in the person they read about. They are interested in your character which then translates to what you have to communicate." He encourages people to ensure their personal style can be seen in the words that they speak with when talking about their niche.

Alessandro performing on stage during OpenStack community gathering on the outskirts of Silicon Valley

Alessandro says that he's seen this phenomenon for 20 years and still sees it on a daily basis. As an example I was reading an instructional guide for students who are considering a PhD which was that was written by one the cofounders of OpenAI. This is not related to artificial intelligence. It is an article he wrote many several years ago. In this article He suggests going to conference. He suggests that you look less at the agenda and concentrate on the speakers. You should look for speakers you know and admire or have heard of who are good - even if what they present does not match to your research."

Alessandro explains that this is a perfect example of the point he is making to get people excited about who you are and the way you say things. Then, your words can be a secondary matter. "Even if they don't agree with you, they will want to listen to your thoughts nonetheless because they have come to admire you and believe they play a significant role in their life."

More details on Synthetic Work

Read more on Alessandro Perilli and his Synthetic Work newsletter on synthetic.work.