What is the role of content in Dark times?

Published: Mon, 11/01/21

From the friendly caves of Pixie Hollow.


Even as Facebook shifts to become Meth, content is going Dark at a rapid rate.

I’ve capitalised the word because it is a proper noun. ‘Dark’, meaning ‘hidden’, ‘not on the surface’, ‘locked away’.

Those who bail out of the big tech platforms in favour of places like Telegram are not, as mainstream media will have you believe, terrorists, KKK members or Nazi reconstructionists.

They’re people who value their privacy.

They’re people who don’t like being spied on.

They’re people who form communities that are not moderated by someone else’s algorithm, and not subject to mind control programming as a result. (Yes, that’s a real thing; yes, your social media is the nefarious tool doing it.)

The functional beauty of Telegram is that it allows people like yourself to shout into the void and grow a meaningful audience. This happens because people on Telegram forward each other content from channels and groups. Clicking through on the channel or sender name can take you into places you’d never find on your own, and it’s quite an amazing process of discovery.

The platform functions as chat, as announcements, as media portal, as training platform. You can use it for private podcasts, or private film releases. You can use it to discuss, to share, to come together. Or you can build a bot and let it manage the content finding-and-posting process.

There are limitless ways in which you can use it.

If you create public channels, they’re crawlable by SEO spiders.

All content is indexed, searchable. You can create your own hashtags to enable fast discovery within your own little corner. Think Slack, but more effective.

If you create private channels and groups, you’ve got immediate exclusivity. You can charge people for access, use it for file sharing, sell product…

In short, the capacity for something like Telegram to become a remarkable tool in your business is enormous.

But because the content is Dark by default, you have to create your own sharing patterns, to ensure the people you want to see them will see them.

This is where Dark content becomes more valuable, you see.

It stops being a pyssing contest.

It eliminates artifice.

And it gives power back to your communities.

If you’re running a business with integrity, you simply must consider all of these “sideline” factors.

Society is going down the gurgler at a rate of knots, and little birdies are whispering that within three years life is going to be worlds away from where we are now.

Prepare for that.

Be smart about your content communities.

Be clever about how you approach the internet.

And really ponder whether your community is respectful in terms of where you ask people to put their data. If you haven’t seen Patagonia’s pushback on Flakebook this week, go find and learn.

To help you get your head around this stuff, I’m offering 20-minute consultations for just $88.

They’re on Saturdays and Sundays.

And I’m closing bookings in 5 days.

So if you want one, get in TODAY. Just reply and say “Me!”.

Xx Leticia “shining a light” Mooney