Participating on the Internet is actually fun!

I’m new to blogging, so I was a little shocked to see one of my recent posts about eggs appear on the Trending page of the Discovery feed. Not only that, but I got a handful of wonderful email replies from people all over the world sharing their experiences with eggs for breakfast. One of them even turned it into his own post and made it on the Trending page too! One thing I’ve learned from this experience is the benefits of friction in online communication. If it’s costless to interact, there is no bar for quality or intention. Take a look at the comments section on any social media site. What you see: Best case (small percentage): someone leaves a thoughtful comment. Usually: it’s one sentence or a few words. At worst (often): Trolls, dunks, spam, and nonsense. One approach to combatting these behaviors is charging $$ to interact. Many writers on Substack paywall their comments section. Some big accounts on X actually paywall their replies as well. While it’s effective, it feels…