maya SEO

Every day, something publishes more than 2 million news articles & 7 million blog posts. Nearly 80% are hollow ‘How to…’ slop aimed at search engine bots—& a growing tenth aren’t even written by humans. It’s not surprise that literacy is decreasing, who wants to read this industrial flatulence?

The length of articles people are actually willing to read is dropping fast. Topics where investors still value readability over SEO robot score, such as news & editorials, are chasing the omen.

Effective journalism has placed itself ahead of the curve by sticking to the poetic tone & brevity essential to Tweet-length writing. Whether its on X, Instagram captions, TikTok transcripts, or texts between friends; this Twitter-aphoristic style has returned as the most effective means of sharing ideas—even if it’s not yet the standard.

“Returned,” because it has always existed. Read ancient literature, always written in poetry or verse. Before it was all impotent theory, even pedantic philosophers wrote in aphorisms—worldwide. Cliche platitudes are easier to endure than Hegel—fan as I am.

& what is an aphorism? Although maybe more formal in stereotype than the average paragraph Tweet, it is this exact style we describe. It depends on a relatable context rather than explicit, long-winded definition. This style presides over literature, & is more often effective at conveying ideas.

Not only does it preside over literature; it predates literacy itself. Some defend our long-winded modern prose, saying “Ancient literature was written in verse because it was expressed vocally, often to an illiterate majority.” Not mentioning the decline of modern literacy, does this not prove Socrates right?

Socrates spoke about writing when it was as new as AI. He said it would corrupt sincere communication & cause us to cling to words rather than really understanding. We know this because Plato wrote about it. Since then, writing has been a battle of balancing this paradox.

Regardless, we call dense essays “long-winded:” It has effected how we express ourselves, fueling semantic circlejerking & theory over experience—just as Socrates warned. But is this not the same kind of conceptual fever we are slowly recovering from as ‘journalism’ exhausts its standards & returns to its more primitive, aphoristic them

This rebirth is exciting, especially to see how it will compare & contrast from the majority of history it relates to. More exciting, it will be harder for AI & content marketing sweatshops to mimic this—may they be liberated swiftly & their employers impoverished.