- Startup Spells 🪄
- Posts
- 🪄 Banned Sites on Socials
Hey,
The Spells Master is back!
Welcome to the 97th issue.
Today's topics:
Banned Sites on Socials
A Database of Top Sref Codes For Midjourney
One recommended video on Why Hard Work Isn't Enough
Social Media is a closed garden nowadays.
Every big social media grew on top of another one.
Instagram grew on top of Facebook and Twitter/X.
TikTok grew on top of Facebook and Instagram.
TBH/Gas grew on top of Instagram.
Substack grew on top of X.
But now if you mention a competitor on Social Media, your reach (the number of people who see your content) is throttled.
You don't get the same reach with a link in your content on X.
Or if you use specific words in videos, you get lower reach than in the videos without it.
There are a few sites that either the algorithm detects as spam or malicious or are outright not shown to many people if you include a post containing it.
For example, if you use Substack, Reddit, or Tiktok links on X posts, you get heavily penalized.
This is Hubspot's Co-Founder Dharmesh Shah:
I'm officially irritated by the fact that twitter/X and LinkedIn algorithms penalize posts with external links in them.
But, so far I've stubbornly refused to use the "link in reply/comment" hack.
Maybe I just need to get over myself.
— dharmesh (@dharmesh)
3:27 PM • Apr 22, 2024
There are some sites that you can't send in DMs like Drippi AI and BlackHatWorld.
And it is the same on Reddit. You can't send Gumroad, Bit.ly, or T.ly links in Reddit DMs.
Banned Sites on Reddit
If you use such sites in your Reddit posts, your posts don't reach to as many people as it would if you removed them altogether.
And it is true for Video Sites like TikTok. You can't mention competitor names in videos anymore.
On TikTok, we’d get shadowbanned if we mention their competitors, ie: Instagram or any sites that direct users outside of their app.
I just didn’t think Twitter will follow suit. And interesting enough, Twitter doesn’t prohibit sharing of TikTok links… 🧐
— Ceddy (@CeddyOrNot)
8:33 PM • Dec 18, 2022
Saying "follow me on insta @startupspells" in a TikTok video will penalize your reach.
So if you feel like linking out to a competitor platform, simply don't. Its not worth it.
You can try linking in the replies on X, LinkedIn and use Linktree on Video Platforms.
A Database of Top Sref Codes For Midjourney
SrefHunter is a game-changer when it comes to greating incredible output from Midjourney.
If you are doing any kind of images on the internet, use Midjourney and don't forget to use Midjourney's --sref parameter to get quality images within minutes.
One recommended video on Why Hard Work Isn't Enough
This video covers incredible advice compressed in the least amount of time on why hard work is just one part of the equation.
You probably know Tai Lopez from his viral Lamborghini video from 7 years ago. As Tai said in the video, you can always learn something from everyone.
Top Tweets of the day
1/
I scaled Drippi to over $300k ARR in less than a year. But if I could go back in time. I wouldn't have started the company at all.
If I knew then what I knew now, I would have started a VERY different business.
This is what I wish I had known 2 years ago:
Not all SaaS… x.com/i/web/status/1…— Jáen ff/sr (@speedrunjaen)
3:01 PM • Jul 11, 2024
Drippi AI, a Twitter/X Mass DM tool, is at $25k MRR in <12 months but since its platform-dependency on Elon Musk's X makes it harder to exit.
Most founders goal is $10m in cash as many countries have around 40%-50% tax for the rich so you only get $5m in hand.
So generally the goal becomes $83,333 MRR to get a 10x exit multiple and a $10m valuation.
You don't get a 10x multiple unless you are truly platform independent. AI is hot shit right now so you probably can command higher multiples if you build on top of Open AI, Gemini and Claude because its generally not that dependent as multiple state-of-the-art models are competing.
For context, Tweethunter (Twitter/X-dependent) and Taplio (LinkedIn-dependent) both sold for $10m exit with a 2-year earnout period.
If it wasn't dependent on another social media platform, it could have gotten a bigger multiple and sold without a 2-year earnout period.
2/
Reddit is now the 5th biggest site in Google's organic results. Up from #80 last summer.
It saw yet another surge this week.
The fact that OpenAI and Reddit are now partnering is a very interesting curveball here.
All this increased exposure and traffic means many more… x.com/i/web/status/1…
— Lily Ray 😏 (@lilyraynyc)
2:49 PM • May 17, 2024
Do not sleep on Reddit. More than 90% of subscribers to this newsletter have come from Reddit.
Rabbit Holes
Fladlien's Theory of Persuasional Relativity - "who better to know someone's problems today than someone who just experienced them yesterday?" is all you need to start selling products online. Our remembering self only remembers peak moments. Our experiencing self experiences a vast variety of emotions. Daniel Kahneman explains the Peak End Rule beautifully.
How to escape competition -- Building enduring application-level value with LLMs - To build enduring applications on top of AI, you need to focus on must-have products, not nice-to-have products. Nice-to-have products require A+ marketing. Must-have products don't.
27 black hat growth hacking techniques - Since every big tech is unable to solve the chaos caused by AI, they are only prioritizing big sites and punishing smaller ones. This means the newer techniques that work are mostly blackhat (exceptions include tools as marketing) unless you already grew before AI caused the chaos. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
Until next time,
Your Spells Master!
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