i'm moving on from telegram
It all started there, but it's not where it will end. Three years ago, I spawned a public channel on Telegram to share my thoughts with, um… myself. For the first year, I was the channel's only subscriber. And while nobody else read my posts, I liked the simplicity that Telegram gave, helping me get my thoughts out without fretting over structure. It favored posts neither too short (Twitter) nor too long (the rest of the internet) — right in the middle. And the app was on both my phone and laptop, so I could quickly type the words and watch them freeze forever (debatable) on the servers of the best messenger in the world (not debatable).
I like frictionless things. It's in human nature to move towards the least resistance. Entrepreneurs know this well — every startup solves at least one small annoyance. The biggest startups solve a major one. Don't want to sweep? Buy a Roomba. Too tired for groceries? Use InstaCart. Dry climbing chalk builds up under your nails? Buy liquid chalk. Just kidding — that’s blasphemy. Clip your nails! We've commoditized friction long ago, and Apple did it like no other. Their products “just work”. Only within their ecosystem, of course, but that's often too much for people to grasp.
There is, however, a problem with Telegram: its audience is mostly non-English speaking. Telegram's three biggest markets are India, Russia, and Iran, so no matter how convenient it is to post there, my Canadian friends don't use it. I could, of course, write in Russian. But I won't. If my words can reach 10 people or 60, I'll choose 60 every time.
Another reason is simplicity. Telegram was my only platform, but not anymore. I now have a blog, and even though it went through three stages — WordPress, Jekyll, and finally Bear Blog — I found something that “just works”. It's not perfect by any means. But if I had to pick one channel to focus on, it would be this blog. It's minimal, subjectively pretty, and hits more people. The more channels I have to manage, the less I focus on writing.
And I'd rather write.
So forgive me, my mostly Russian Telegram readers. I might come back, but until then feel free to subscribe via email or RSS.