Startup Thinking 20260428: The Dynamic Game of Content Platforms, Why Is High Value Deep Content the Only Solution for Creators?

Yesterday I was thinking about running content on Twitter, and I tried to promote a few posts with ads. Then I found that all of them were halted. This was outside my expectation. And I clearly know that once a result is different from my expectation, then my value judgment of this thing has some bias. We can call it cognitive bias.

So I went deeper and thought about one thing. When a person posts on a content platform, what roles are involved, and what value does each role expect?

Obviously, we can bring in three roles: creator, platform, and user.

The platform wants valuable users. What it cares about is the LTV of these users. So low level funny content, AI slop, and content without real nutrition are not what the platform likes. It is not that this kind of content cannot keep users staying on the platform. It is that the people attracted by this kind of content have lower value themselves. I do not want to say I am more advanced than anyone else. But from probability, this is obvious. The value of these users is lower.

So from the platform angle, it wants to give users content that is worth their attention. This content should have interaction, data signals, and a community atmosphere. Based on these contents, users give feedback. Maybe they feel emotionally satisfied. Maybe their understanding is really upgraded. Maybe they touch a product they are interested in, and then make a transaction on the platform.

The nature of a platform is to make transactions happen.

From the blogger angle, or from the creator angle, the blogger provides attention, useful content, valuable content, personal trust, distribution, and emotional value. These are what users want, and also what the platform wants. For this type of content creator, the platform even needs to compete for them, because these things are actually invisible assets.

But there is also a game point here.

Bloggers are not creating content only because of love. Their content expression also has business goals. And if the transaction happens outside the platform, the platform loses something.

So here comes the dynamic game.

If the platform is too strict, and creators have no way to make transactions outside the platform, then bloggers will become fewer. If bloggers can easily lead traffic to private channels, then the platform profit becomes thinner, and it can even threaten the survival of the platform.

So the nature of a content platform is a dynamic game value exchange system.

As content producers, especially this type of people who are willing to show their real face and interact with a real name, providing high value content becomes the only solution.

The first big benefit is that this can build real trust with users, and at the same time it has enough deep value to attract high quality users on the platform. Here I want to say one sentence. Users with judgment are, in probability, richer. In the whole transaction process, their LTV is higher.

So we should not be afraid that our content is too deep. Instead, we should ask whether our content has enough value.

If we are only spreading hot news, then no user will really settle on us, because the value users feel is only the value of the news or hot topic itself.

The second big benefit is that the platform algorithm is designed to sense content value. Our high value content will get recommended. Then it moves toward a win win result. The platform likes it. The blogger likes it. We originally did not have the ability to expand the reach of our content, but the platform helps us do it. Also, users are actually satisfied too. This is a win for all three sides.

The third big benefit is that deep content has a long tail effect. Someone reads this content today, and tomorrow there will still be people reading it. As long as users have a chance to touch it, someone will read it. And if this type of user profile is sensed by the platform as a high value group, the platform will push it again. This is why an article may become popular again when a certain topic becomes hot again.

The fourth big benefit, and I think this is the most important one, is the barrier of deep content itself.

Only when you slow down, think deeply, create with real care, collect high quality materials and cases, and make your logic clear, can you really do this whole thing. This whole process is not easy.

People without enough ability cannot do it. People under marketing KPI pressure will create deformed content, because they are too eager to get results.

But people who believe in long term value step by step, and are willing to spend time and energy, will form a certain kind of premium. They will attract more users. The value produced by content compared with the energy spent on it can be higher than the energy cost of traditional marketing.

After I had this layer of thinking, I understood why my posts on Twitter were halted yesterday.

Sometimes slow is fast.

The above is my real thinking, typed out word by word by myself.

There may be places where my analysis is not enough. Everyone is welcome to comment and correct me.