Groundbreaking Conclusion: Get your point across in your headline + banner image, that's all most people will see.

A formula for raising your awareness of how people engage with media:

1. Write a blog post that blows up a little

2. Compare the repost/like number to a) the number of people who actually visited the page and b) the number who subscribed and could therefore read the whole article

3: 😅😅😅

I know this might be an unpopular stance on here, but I do think learning what LLMs are capable of and how to use them is — if you're up for it — worthwhile. If only to understand the hype cycle a bit better.

But also because as a solopreneur these tools can be really helpful.

I've been thinking about this quite a lot lately because I want to write a transparent AI policy for my newsletter.

I was even thinking to include revenue goals/milestones at which point I commit to replacing certain uses of AI with humans (e.g. research assistant) if people support the site 🤔

I'd never use it to write a story or even brainstorm stories/ Writing is something I do on my own. So no replacement.

But I would never keep the metadata on my Obsidian notes clean, keep tidy logs of meetings with researchers, or tidy up my chaotic invoice log to make my tax guy's life easier.

Hot take on Bluesky -braces for hate storm-

But...

I like Claude Code.

My personal AI policy is to not use it for things I'd usually do myself or pay someone else for. I'm using it for stuff I'd never in a million years manage or bother to do otherwise.

Dare I comment that birding is a pretty science-nerd-adjacent interest? Haha. I'm saying this to call myself out... I am a science nerd and love birds. And it does seem like every 2nd scientist I talk to likes birds.

Yes! I have thought about trying to do some video sometime soon... but text is just my native medium and it is hard to get away from that.

So much respect to people who can somehow pump out a solid short form video every day.

Ich thynke but litel of a Mondaye bleake
Tuesday grey and Wednesdaye eke
Thursdaye Ich care not for thee
Yet Fridaye Ich am yn love

[dreamye lute arpeggio]

Mondaye thou kanst fall awaye
Tuesdaye, Wednesdaye, myne herte slaye
No mirthe ys founde upon Thursdaye
Yet Fridaye Ich am yn love

Yeah I'm fine with PR emails that are obviously relevant and well thought-out, or from institutions I follow and requested info from (I like getting them, even).

But the random requests are getting more common

Washington Post article on STEM cuts at federal agencies. NSF tops it at -42%!

“Between January 2025 and February 2026, STEM and health employees at science-focused agencies saw nearly 15,000 jobs cut. The rate outpaced cuts among other federal workers.”

OPM data - Figure from Wash Post article 19 April. (Where US science has been hit hardest.)

NSF at -42%!

Any other journos getting flooded with PR inquiries lately?

Same, I feel like it must be AI lobsterbots or something

Definitely think they’re reaching huge audiences and need to be taken more seriously by ”traditional” pop sci.

In the second half of my post I talk about short form video being probably the most wide-reaching media form right now

I feel you on newsletter bloat - and the ”subscriber-wall” is indeed confusing in my ghost theme. I need to edit it somehow so it is clearer that it is free for subscribers

Another issue is the incentives with short form - they’re basically not there, unless you’re building your own influencer brand. It’s way more straightforward to pitch a magazine article than a short-form video (and pitch to whom?)

Important points from @elisecutts.bsky.social. Reminds me of something @jamellebouie.net has said here: if you really want to reach many more people, make short-form video.

Short video is hard for me to stomach: looks yucky; concerned about putting it on platforms even though there's plenty.
1/

I feel trapped between the same rock and hard place. I write scripts for a YouTube channel that’s got a much bigger audience than any magazine I write for… they pay me literally a fifth of what I get at a glossy science mag. So I don’t write scripts as often as I’d like to.

This is a really good and important point

And if they pay freelancers, the rates are often very bad!

Also, the situation outside the anglosphere just gets worse. I’ve thought about trying to write for German papers here in Austria but the rates are so much lower than I can get in a science-focused US mag.

If you want more ranty scicomm writing like this, consider signing up for my newsletter.

I’m in the middle of reworking it to focus on science, scicomm, and how to make knowledge matter in our weird times.

Seeing a few new subscribers would be great feedback to know I’m making the right move!

Thanks for sharing! It’s great to see that others are interested in thinking about this esp. since I’m in the middle of totally redoing my newsletter to further explore some of the ideas in that post

From February, but (re-)sharing ICYMI as it’s something that’s always worth thinking about

#scicomm

In case anyone else wants to read the whole thing : the post is newsletter signup-walled, not paywalled

The wording on my ghost theme is pretty confusing on that point 😅working on fixing that

Also I will send PDFs to folks who don’t want to sign up for the newsletter if asked (within reason)

I only have access to the first bit, but Ab. So. Lute. Ly. on the main point.

I've seen this for years in assessments of the science outreach that I love so much. As I retreated to the higher ed classroom, w/ a slightly different population (at least politically mixed) I've had to reckon with that.

The worst part of any bike ride is cars.

This is going to the top of my to-read list, thank you! Hadn't heard it before but it seems like it aligns with thinking I've been doing about "what does this piece of content do for the consumer?"

A frank & overdue self-examination of science communication. Yet also applicable to our overall increasingly unbalanced generation of information, & what we as humans & societies do with it. The rule now is quantity over quality. And we are paying the price (literally).

This is the best, most refreshing piece I’ve read in a long time. And you’re not alone. Others are also thinking & concerned. ‘Twas the very topic of conversation yesterday w/ young woman in store who is perusing grad degree in psychology. Encouragingly, more young ppl are asking these questions.1/2

Great piece. I do scicomm and I'm fine "just" telling fun science stories to the science-enthusiast public... But I know many scicommers want their work to positively impact the world, and there are definitely many bad ideas floating around about how to achieve that. Glad someone's talking about it