Your precious post didn't get the attention it deserves? You think people don’t care about you here???
Yeah, they just don’t care…. And the part of the reason is: they have too many choices and too little time. In the environment where we have too many choices and too little time the obvious thing to do is just ignore stuff.
Snap Judgments
Take a look at this picture
It represents just a fraction of an entire animal. And yet looking at just a tiny piece of it, you had no trouble imagining the trunk, the tusks, the huge feet and even the odor of elephant. We make instant judgements because it help us deal with the outside world.
We are incapable of properly sorting every fact presented to us. Instead, we make up a theory about what is going on and then work hard to refine that theory. The amazing thing is how quickly these stories we tell our self get invented.
The First Snapshot
We decide about a book or a TV show or a post that in front of us in a matter of seconds. You never seen this elephant before but you’re still willing and able to make a huge number of predictions based on snap judgement and tiny amount of data. We make those decisions and stick with them regardless of information that might prove them wrong.
We inherited the ability to make accurate snap judgments from our ancestors. The only chance they could survive in a jungle thousands of years ago was to make split-second assessments. If you needed a week or even a day to decide if another Neanderthal was a friend or enemy, you were dead…
As creatures with egos though, we need to defend our decisions . The boss doesn't like to admit he’s wrong , and neither do we. So we deform our perceptions to match that first judgement
If you ever applied for a job ( or been on the hiring side), you’ve seen this snap judgement in action. The majority of job interviews are over in less than five minutes. Either you’re hired and the rest of the interview is just a chance to confirm that decision, or hide the fact that you didn’t get the job after just a few moments of conversation.
The Myth Of The First Impression
After reading about our snap judgements it’s easy to fall victim to an obsession with making a perfect first impression. After all you never get a second chance to make first impression. We’ve got to dress for success, make sure the front of the restaurant is carefully swept and answer the phone on the first ring…
The problem with that analysis is that 99% of the time, the first impression is really NO impression. You can spend hours thinking about your heading and first image to grab an attention, but most people will ignore it.
The problem with first impressions is NOT that they're not important ( They are important! They are crucial!!! ) but that we have no idea at all when that first impression is going to occur. Not the first contact, but the first impression.
That’s why authenticity matters
The reason authenticity matters is that we don’t know which inputs the reader will use to invent the story he tells himself about your post.
Often the posts we write have a best sign in front, are well intentioned and even an attempt at communicating all the facts, but when a human being eventually confronts the idea, he will interpret it in his own way - he will lie to himself, creating a judgement without access to all the facts.
The best thing to do then is to write a simple authentic stories that are the most likely to be understood and the most likely to spread, to stop trying to find the winning formula.
Instead of being scientist, to be an artist. To realize that whatever is being wrote is being red because it creates an emotional want , not because it fills a simple need.
Spending the time on front sign and heading is not the point, the point is to contact the matter. Only if you’re authentic you can be sure that the story you’re telling is consistent enough to impact the maximum number of people's emotional wants.
If you’re not consistent and authentic,the timing of that first impression is too hard to predict. On the other hand, if you cover in your authentic story all the possible impressions and let the reader to make them into a coherent story, you win
I like your post. Good writing and useful advice.
Thank you
Thanks for the sound advice!
Just tried to make it short, straight and authentic :). Glad it reached you. All the best