Cake has created a great platform for conversations but in my mind not enough content to get it started. Maybe there should have been money spent on creating or paying people to create content or conversation starters rather than just on the platform. Something to consider. There just isn't a critical mass of content on Cake to get the whole thing started. Or maybe I'm wrong. How to create original interesting content but keep it organic? With so many people at home sitting on their Internet devices and so many different thoughts in their heads, how can a platform like this not take off? Not enough exposure to the right people. Not enough content to create exposure? Not high enough on Google search? No enough incentive for people to share links to Cake on their social media accounts. How to create a marketing blitz? Has their ever been a grand opening? Too many great conversations with knowledgeable people but nobody to read it? Where would the money or time or energy be spent? Where should it have been spent? How about turning it over to organic creators? A platform connected with Patreon? I don't know but there wasn't enough exposure or seed material.

Need to brain storm some ideas here...

Thoughts? Ideas? Ramblings? How to make it go viral?

Where are the Cake.co youtube videos???????????????

Someone make a Cake.co youtube video....

Brainstorm

Turn this into a marketing class project that has a $10,000 prize for the winner with the best idea of how to make such a site successful. Idk seems there's lots of marketing talent out there that could be had for cheap. Youth are full of ideas, I'm a teacher so I know this.

Offering a cash prize for the winner could great a viral situation in and of itself. Who has done this successfully before?

Seems to me Cake.co founders and creators are good at creating a platform but focused on that platform and raising capital but not getting users. Need one to create the other and vice versa. More needs to be focused on marketing. Easy to say, harder to do. Ideas needed. Save Cake so we can all get fat on the calories.

Lots of people create little prizes that can be won by sharing on social media.

One thing I can confirm is that there are some people on here who are being paid to create content. That is something that @Chris has been trying to do. So, I don't know the total number of people who are being paid as freelancers, but I can confirm that there are some folks on here who are being paid to create content, engage with users, etc.

You already saw my list of five things that Cake can do to make the site better in the monster thread. But one of the things that I do think would help is a stronger social media presence. That's why I do think using the Cake twitter account more would help and also if all of us, on our own social media platforms, shared/tweeted our favorite conversations.

That's why on my personal twitter account and Facebook like page, I share some of what I've written for Cake. To help draw more attention to the site.

Bottom line is you are someone who enjoys Cake and wishes it grew more, tell your friends about it! Share your favorite conversations on social media and put the word out!

I do believe that the biggest enemy Cake has is simply time. It takes time to grow things and find your right audience. So long as Cake is able to hang tough and perhaps look at itself in the mirror and make some changes, the future could still be bright.

I've never seen a 'Share to Cake' button and I'm conflicted about whether that is a good thing because it stop multiple posts with little thought going into them, or a bit of a missed opportunity for conversation starting posts.

Thoughts? Ideas? Ramblings? How to make it go viral?

Sure, let me ramble for a bit! ;)

You already mentioned the vicious circle Cake is in, yourself: if I look around on Cake today, there's not much going on. I recognize some of the faces, and have a general interest in many things, so I might still find a conversation to join - but why would a random person who is interested in, say, Artisanal ice cream and the history of Arctic expeditions even want to join Cake right now if there's not a single conversation about it, let alone a good dozen of it?

At the same time, if that person is interested in starting such conversations, why would they want to do it here and not in any of the dozen other online places that exist? We might do that because we're already invested in the platform, even against our own better judgment - but someone who is new would only do it if it is in their own interest in terms of views, likes and replies.

So, with both "creators" and "participants" of potential conversations not having any real incentive to do it here, nothing will ever come of it.

It might be possible to artificially kickstart this process - but for that to happen, there needs to be a good plan. For example, it is obviously necessary to advertise existing content to people who are not already on Cake, but it's not enough on its own.

Let's say I write a conversation starter about Artisanal ice cream today, and Cake's Twitter account randomly shares it tomorrow. Would people who like to talk about that topic suddenly join? Only if (a) my conversation starter is actually good (I would need to be an expert in the topic), AND (b) if people on Twitter who might be interested in joining even see the post. Because we can't expect these people to be randomly following Cake's Twitter account, this would mean that the person writing Cake's tweets would need to do the research about what hashtags work, when and why.

Generally speaking, if the problem is a vicious circle, then the solution is not to solve just one of its steps and hope for the others, but to solve all of them at the same time. We'd need a regular flow of good, new conversation starters, plus following conversations that are actually worth it, plus outside advertisement of those conversations. All of that would need to happen not only once in a while, but constantly for weeks or even months before there's enough "natural" activity.

Also, doing this for all the topics at the same time would be spreading things too thin. Instead, there would need to be a selection of only one or a few related topics that are being advertised like this.

This ties into another point I've mentioned, which is really focusing on topics that seem to be getting the most traction on Cake in terms of starting conversations.

Anything in the science, technology, politics, or photography realms seem to generate good conversations on Cake. So, that's why a lot of the conversations I start revolve around those topics. Photography not as much only because I'm not a photographer, but science, tech, and politics I try to write about because relative to other topics on Cake, they seem to generate a good amount of conversation and buzz.

These things appeal to those who are currently on Cake but we need to be engaged in conversations which also attract people that are not interested in those particular subjects as much as they are in other subjects.

The idea is to W I D E N the appeal of Cake and to Increase the number of people on Cake. That means producing interesting conversations on many other subjects as well.

Yeah, I think it's both of course. You make a good point. We do want to make this a place where people of all interests can come together.

But, there's also the element of retaining those who have signed up and keeping them engaged in Cake. So, in terms of accomplishing that, we need to provide content that keeps that group happy.

Once again, it's both: We want to expand the circle as you said, but also find out where Cake is most strong and build a niche community around those most popular topics. Then, once that community is built up, I think the other communities will follow. That's my read.

By the way, the more ideas we have, the better! I'm liking what everyone is bringing to the table, here!

I think the problem of cake popularity is one related to number of subscribers, rather that content. If you build it, they will come. Lack of sufficient visibility - advertising - in a way that is enticing someone to , say, leave their facebook feed for few minutes and check things out here.

Look at what works, and learn. What draws crowds to these web sites? It's the sheer exposure every single post gets. Sadly, it doesn't have to be quality stuff, and at times may be quite the contrary.

I thought some of the content-creation attempts were laudable, but they were ultimately ineffectual. Why? Why didn’t they work?

It is possible that the biggest enemy Cake has is simply time. If we just keep hanging in there and putting out more content, maybe at some point the scale will tip in the type of direction that we all want.

I think there's been a lot of really good content created on Cake. I don't think that's the issue. But, I do think figuring out what type of posts generate the most conversation is something worth exploring. That's something I've been trying to better figure out.

I do think it would help to include as many topics as possible in each Cake post we put out there for the sake of exposure. Five is the max per post and I think that's a good number. But, many Cake posts include only one or two topics when there are easily two to three more that could be added. That's why nearly every conversation I start on Cake includes the maximum number of topics. I'm trying to reach the maximum number of Cake users.

The goal is to reach two types of people: People who haven't yet found Cake and people who've found Cake, but aren't on it as often as we'd like. My suggestion for including as many topics as possible (five) in each Cake conversation would help reach those who are on Cake, but not it as often as we like.

I'm not for including topics unrelated to the post in conversations, but taking this conversation as an example, the topics "Cake", "Cake Feedback", and "social media" could have been added as well.

By the way, this is in no ways a criticism at @cvdavis. RE: Including max number of topics per conversation. I was just using this post as an example.

Maybe people are looking for people centric content, on Cake they miss the "follow" and ability to congregate - if you will - based on certain preferences or topics..

What exactly is Cake? A socializing platform? An encyclopedia?

Yeah, I think adding a feature like "follow" would attract a lot of especially young audience..

Okay, here is my 2 cents! The word "niche" was used in one the posts from the one with the vision. From a marketing stand point ; "appeal and desireabilty" are powerful factors. From my review of history making something gigantic does not necessarily equal complete success. By the way what is "success" regarding exercises in intellect and expression? Many endeavors have been extremely well received not by numbers but by exclusivity; isn't the wine industry built on that principle a unique presentation of a blend or formula? At this point and time those that are active have the rare opportunity to be part of the " cake makers" community. Be a propagator of this early stage platform. "Water seeks its own level", and I belive this applies not only to water but many other processes in our life experiences. In conclusion if you have the means and knowledge to make your suggestion concrete and viable then you should put forth a proposal and see it through. I for one simply say thanks for making this platform available for the average run of the mill thinker and unknown man, with just the desire to once in a while share some thought that falls out of my head!

This is an important question - and probably a combination of reasons .

Solution- wise ... yes to social media @JazliAziz and @slamdunk406 and yes to variety of topics (other than election and pandemic, but obviously they are vital).

One suggestion from me would be sport based topics - @slamdunk406 - there is no doubt sport = passion and comments ...

Basketball, Football, soccer etc

It is possible that the biggest enemy Cake has is simply time. If we just keep hanging in there and putting out more content, maybe at some point the scale will tip in the type of direction that we all want.

I agree that time is a major factor, but from a different perspective. Reading is seen as a time consumer nowadays. Many people don't want to spend time reading when they can watch a video or listen to a podcast. Same might go for creating content. I know I take several days to write some of my lengthier posts, and maybe others just don't have the time (or don't want to commit the time) to do the same? Sure they could write short posts, nothing wrong with that, but then what's the difference between Cake and Twitter if Cake is flooded with short posts that contain little to no substance?

I think Cake definitely isn't for everyone, so the challenge isn't just finding people, but finding the right people who might enjoy the platform. There's definitely a lot of passionate people on the internet who would love to debate and discuss their favourite topics with others, we just need to "lure" them here. Topics like movies and TV series, video games, smartphones, sports, these seem to have the most vocal followers (that I've seen), so having content that revolves around these topics might help for a start. From my own experience, these topics seem to be lacking on Cake. I try my best to contribute to these topics but we need more.

Even if @slamdunk406 and I take over the Cake Twitter account, we still need content to share to get the ball rolling.

I hope you don't mind if I play devil's advocate here: Why do you take the time to "create content" to post here?

In response to your question to @JazliAziz

If the things that are posted here are things which can be read elsewhere then why would we expect that to produce an influx of new people to Cake.

An Analogy:

Often when a news event occurs, I will select one news source that does not appear to be extremist and read their article and if the article seems non-controversial not reaad any of the other articles available from other news sources on the same subject.

Likewise, if the only things which are posted here are things which come from other internet sources then why would we get more than a trickle of new Cake users?

It seems I worded my question poorly.

You are completely right, of course! Any content that is created here with the goal to eventually generate new users for Cake needs to be original. Just repeating stuff that can also be found elsewhere doesn't help much - this only works if Cake happens to be the site someone visits for content first, before going elsewhere.

This is already a good insight for anyone who wants to do the "content creation" bit, but I had something different in mind with my question. Allow me to rephrase:

If you "create content" to post here, and take days to do that - what's your actual goal, and do you think that this goal is best served by posting the content you created on Cake?

Paid content creators on here create high end content which is great but they also require higher wages. Turning to a much much lower level of content creator is what’s needed. High end can come later if needed. Or maybe have a variety of content creators. Overseas, students or low wage workers are needed.

How about creating a way for content creators to make money here? YouTube does it. Instagram and Pinterest do it. Needs to be a way for some ambitious people with assorted interests to make money getting things going. What do you think?

How about some way for content creators to reach different levels? People want recognition and reward. It needn’t be financial though. Maybe little milestone badges for for example creating a conversation that reaches 100 replies, 200, and 1000. An award for most targets or thumbs up. Strava (an amazingly popular app) has these kind of little milestone badges or awards. Third party advertisers or companies can pay to get their award on there. Like most threads started with over 15 comments for Spanish dancing. Or...basically anything here. It’s a way to make advertisers get involved but doesn’t take away from the user experience. Many social media companies first try to build millions of users before they advertise but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Needs to be an incentive for assorted social media users to post a link to cake.co. Maybe a prize for a random user each week or month that provides a link to cake. Each post or new person they get here enters them in a prize. Needn’t be any big or expensive thing.

They’ve made great content but not enough people here that are interested in it. Definitely not enough females here. Not enough every type of person.

I think one thing that has to be kept in mind is you really don’t know what type of user would potentially explode cake. It’s like when some new science is discovered and people guess at what future technology or benefit may come of it but in actuality it’s some unexpected thing that comes from it. Maybe it’s teen girls, maybe bisexual community, maybe hunters, maybe single mothers. One really doesn’t know but the magic of this site is that it could be anyone or any type of user. Maybe cake could target large disgruntled users from another social media platforms. Just so many potential ways this could explode. It’s almost dumb luck that could explode it. Where to focus the energy and advertising is the million dollar question. I think it needs to be open to being a way people can make revenue from creating great conversations. Many people around the world will create things for next to nothing, particularly if it’s in their area of expertise.