Member-only story
Whether it be for learning, entertainment or anything else, consuming content is something we likely all do too much of.
Across multiple platforms, I consume far too much and create too little and when I consider it, there are only a few creators of any type that truly speak to me and that I look forward to receiving a notification about.
So this had me considering: what is the difference between them and the rest?
When YouTube occasionally asks me what I think of a certain video suggestion, it follows up by asking why I gave a certain response. The options are simplified but along the lines of entertaining, useful, funny, informative and others.
This obviously both helps the algorithm and, in turn, should help you get content you will actually benefit from, subjectively at least.
But if I select just YouTube and Medium, there are actually only a handful of people I truly look forward to. These people often have multiple good qualities about them and what they do, for which I could fight in their corner for. But they also have one rarely mentioned quality, which I am now going to clumsily name.
Unstructured, daydreamer’s enthusiasm.
Let me break that down.
Unstructured
When someone is simply reading off a perfectly crafted script, it removes much of the authenticity. This removes the humanity and thus the connection. I am no longer a child and superficiality will not work on me anymore. While some may be confused, it is clear what I mean.
When you see the unstructured nature of someone ranting and wandering through a video, you can tell they are actually interested in it. Who would have thought? This adds weight and merit to their opinion and perspective, whether you agree with them or not.
I actually do think that structure is a good thing, but there also needs to be areas of unstructured thought and opinion interspersed throughout the content like salt on a meal. It should not be overdone, but just enough can completely change the whole thing.
