This Tinyletter has always felt more intimate than my blog posts - kind of like a B-side to the the polished hits on my blog (jk - hits?!). These notes feel somehow more cozy - like inviting my audience into a little fireside chat.
Writing a blog post invites any kind of public scrutiny - it's *designed* to be public. Whereas the Tinyletter has some stance of - *you kinda need to be on the list to read these*. As I mull this tension between public and cozy I realized there's room for a new space - a cozy chat space:
Let's unpack this:- Fast & public: This is Twitter - functioning like a public commons
- Slow & public: This is my Blog - open to all, on a measured pace
- Slow & cozy: This is my Tinyletter - a measured pace and a cozy intimate stance
- Fast & cozy: This is a new space: Discord - a place for more intimate real-time experiences
Come Join my Discord
Discord is exploding in my circles - rapidly becoming the go-to tool for the coming wave of fragmented social spaces. Discord is quickly replacing Slack for this use case - and in fact Stewart Butterfield (Slack's CEO) said this is by design (behind Stratechery paywall):
Something interesting for me - because Discord spaces are free there are fewer power dynamics and I can feel free to make "my" discord space without imposing my power (and: importantly you create a Discord account, not a tomcritchlow discord account - so I can't read your DMs. A crucial distinction vs Slack).
So come join! Click this link to join the Discord space.
Using my Discord Space for Salon-Style Chats
One of the great features of Discord is the voice-channels where you can "drop-in" for audio chats. This interaction feels more fluid and casual than a zoom webinar. I've got two voice channels right now - #salons and #co-working.
#salons is going to be where I host scheduled sessions - on all kinds of things. Watch this space for more info.
#co-working is going to be where we can just hang and chat when we want.
Got a suggestion for a small talk? Want to pre-test an idea before it becomes a conference talk or blog post? Ping me and we'll set up a salon for it.
Salon #1 - Thinking in Public tomorrow @ 1pm ET
The first salon is going to be tomorrow (Tuesday) 1pm ET in the discord space! We're gonna fire up a figma file, gather round and chat. It's going to be fun and weird and experimental. Hopefully it'll be useful for all kinds of folks who are thinking about how and why to think in public:
- Hopefully it'll be useful for any agency / consultant types who are wrestling with "content marketing" and need a better way through
- Hopefully it'll be useful for bloggers / writers who are wrestling with finding an audience and figuring out their style.
More Links
This email is getting long so I'll keep these brief.From me:
- Quotebacks is finally ready for Firefox! If you've been waiting dive in and play around.
- I wrote the next post in the quarantined independent blogchain: can calendly unbundle NYC? (where I also share some stats about where my client work has come from over the last 6 years)
- Paul Millerd wrote a wonderful meditation about why you should be a creator online: We Need 100x More Creators Online
- Aaron Z Lewis wrote a magnificent piece: The Garden of Forking Memes: How Digital Media Distorts Our Sense of Time
- Toby Shorin wrote an also-magnificent *reply* to Aaron's piece: re: garden of forking memes
- Sean Blanda wrote a really insightful exploration: Our remote work future is going to suck
Much love - I hope you'll come join my discord, whether to chat or just to lurk and join the salons. Both are equally allowed!
Tom