Friendcatchers

To bring on connections between people. To give and receive. That's the beauty of it.

Serendipity on the internet only happens by putting things out in the world.

There's this blog post I keep thinking about over and over. I found it 2 years ago by chance on a random personal portofolio/website and it stuck with me.

I guess it resonated with something in me so much I needed to write about it. Here it goes:

You need to build the things that will allow you to engage an audience and improve them over time.
Friendcatchers are part of this. Friendcatchers are small, contained lists, essays or apps that solve resonant (emotional, relevant), tractable, underserved problems.
One way of doing it is writing in depth specialised guides. The beginners guides to everything have already been written. What's missing is more advanced content. This sort of content tends to stand out and be highly appreciated in places like Reddit and Hacker news.

Another way of doing it is by sharing polarising, unconventional ideas you have. These ideas will repulse those that are close minded towards your ideas and attract more people like you.

It's not some deep lesson or some unknown truth, but I like the idea of viewing my personal projects as friendcatchers. As a way to attract like minded people.

In a way that's all I've done since I started sharing my projects.

I think that's a powerful motivation to make things. To bring on connections between people. To give and receive. That's the beauty of it.
Today I felt like sharing it.