How to Get Your Dissident Ideas Heard Online

This guide is crafted for those who dare to think differently and are eager to make their voices heard in this new digital realm. Through seven strategic steps, from creating daily content to riding the zeitgeist, this guide aims to empower you with the tools and insights necessary to effectively communicate your unique perspectives in the new media landscape with authenticity, creativity, and impact. Let's explore how you can not only ensure your ideas are heard but resonate widely in today's fast-paced digital world.

Table of contents

This article was initially written by Caitlin Johnstone and Tim Foley. It has been condensed and reworded to increase its accessibility.

1. Create Daily Content

To build a devoted audience, prioritise creating engaging content daily. This routine helps integrate your work into people's daily lives, fostering a consistent connection. Quality and regularity encourage sharing, which in turn increases your audience size. Daily creation also drives continuous innovation and learning, pushing you to explore new ideas and perspectives. While perfection isn't mandatory—missing a day occasionally is fine—the goal is to produce content as regularly as possible.

2. Speak Directly to the People

Focus on engaging directly with your audience, bypassing traditional publishing avenues. Tailor your content to resonate with readers, not to fit the preferences of conventional media outlets, which are becoming less relevant in today’s digital landscape. Your real audience is those who share and interact with your content online, not the traditional gatekeepers. Embrace the freedom to express your ideas without censorship, aiming to connect authentically with those who value your voice.

3. Get it Right and Don’t be Boring

To build trust and captivate your audience, always getting your facts right is crucial. Errors, particularly on significant topics, can seriously undermine your credibility, even if you later correct them. However, accuracy alone isn't sufficient if no one engages with your content. Fortunately, when you communicate directly with your audience, bypassing traditional mediators, you can be as creative as you wish. Standing out and being memorable can significantly enhance audience engagement. Don't hold back on expressing yourself uniquely and boldly.

4. Be the One Who Says What Everyone’s Thinking but is Too Afraid to Say

This is another advantage independent media voices have over outlet-controlled ones; you can always be the one in the room to say the thing that needs to be said without waiting for anyone’s approval. If you can put something into words that nobody else has yet, be the first to say it, and you’ll be uplifted by the crowd as they say, “Yes! This! We think this too!”

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5. Try to Make the Shareable Version of Your Content Look as Much Like a Meme as Possible

The best way to get shares on social media isn't just to write a really good essay or put out a really good video; it's to make it something people want to share even if they haven't read it. Try to get your entire message into the title and have a picture that goes with the title—essentially making the shareable 'preview' of your content look like a meme.

Make your headlines as attention-grabbing as possible, but make them truthful; don't indulge in clickbait. I will repeat myself in all caps: ***DO NOT INDULGE IN CLICKBAIT***. If your headline gets a click, you've got to deliver what your headline promises or you'll quickly lose your audience.

6. Be Authentic

People love authenticity, but they only like the real kind, and they can tell the difference. At some point, you’ll be confronted with the choice of either (A) speaking your truth or (B) telling your audience what you know they want to hear, and the long-term best decision is always (A). Only say what you believe to be the truth, and say it even if it will offend your audience.

Be emotionally honest, too. If something’s upsetting you, say so. If you’re having a bad day and you’re worried you won’t be able to make a quality video or article or whatever, let your audience know. Be real. Not “Look how real I am” real, but real real. Vulnerably real. Again: people can tell the difference.

7. Get a Feel for Riding the Zeitgeist

If you can get a feel for where the energy of the masses is headed, then you can learn how to kind of “surf” that energy by placing your ideas on top of it and letting the crowd carry them into virality. You’re going to get a lot more shares on an article about your opinions on climate change, for example, at a time when the zeitgeist is crackling with concern about recent hurricanes or fires

If you can find where the energy is and which way it’s moving, you can put an idea on it and let it carry it into public consciousness, like sending a message in a bottle down a stream. The best way to get a feel for this is to roll your sleeves up and participate in social media and being contentious because everyone who opposes you will scramble forward to bring you their very best arguments against your position, and you’ll be able to learn those arguments while gauging how hard the pushback is.

And then the people will have won.

This article was initially written by Caitlin Johnstone and Tim Foley. It has been condensed and reworded to increase its accessibility. Caitlin is a highly inspiring woman who produces daily content on narratives, propaganda, and psychological warfare and never fails to call out global injustices when she sees them. You should 100 % follow her.

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