One thing I'm beyond grateful for, in my nearly 25 years now of reviewing coffee gear, writing opinion articles on coffee, and doing educational content including guides and how tos is this:
I **own** the platform I publish on.
This has a whole ton of benefits (and some detriments).
For instance, I'm not beholden to the whims, changing rules, and expectations of an enshittified platform like Youtube or TikTok or Instagram. Or platforms becoming enshittified like substack or medium. I don't have to constantly evolve because of their rules which ultimately benefit the platform owner.
I don't have to A/B stuff, do insane screenshots of me gaping at some gear, because that gets "more clicks". I don't have to script what I write to max out the algorithm.
And I definitely don't have to produce content based on what the algorithm likes best, or what generates the most "clicks", something every Youtube content creator I've spoken to speaks about as if its second nature.
That last part is the one that kind of bothers me the most. Most Youtube creators in the coffee space will specifically avoid certain content, certain products, certain topics, not because they're controversial or edgy, but because it might get half the views of something with a title like "The TRUTH about Trendy Product XYZ!"
Of course, there's detriments to owning your own platform. Bugs, server issues, compatibility issues (like how the Fediverse MastoDDoses ya when a link is posted), and for younger sites than mine, constantly chasing SEO.
(as an aside, I do big nods to SEO, but given the stature and longevity of our website, we're almost always favourably "ranked" in search engines).
