#10: Point us in a new direction
We've got to make a choice - help us decide where to go next.
Hi there,
When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody.
One of the biggest struggles that any publication faces is defining its scope. Keep it too wide, and your topics are all over the place; keep it too narrow, and you risk boxing yourself into obscurity.
Defining our scope is an ongoing process for SEAmplified. When we first started two months ago, we assumed that youths would be concerned about the job market. To test that assumption, we decided to examine Southeast Asian politics and how it shapes the region’s labor market.
Since then, what has two months of data taught us?
Most readers we spoke with found the labor angle rather unclear at first glance. They also did not see how our content added value to their employment prospects.
The rationale behind the choice of explainers was also unclear. Many readers felt that our coverage was too broad, and too random.
Numbers-wise, our subscriber growth also quickly plateaued after the first month, suggesting that our current content isn’t valuable enough to attract new readers.
More importantly, it turned out that our content resonated strongly with academics, activists, and business owners, but fell short of reaching youths. That’s a huge win by any measure, especially with RSIS and ISEAS lending us a hand in earlier issues. But we really want our work to get youths moving, so it’s also a question of finding better focus for ourselves as well.
Of course, these signals don’t necessarily just point to a content problem. We took issue with writing style, and also re-evaluated whether Substack was the right medium to reach out to youths, who remain our intended audience. That’s why we believe, as we’ve said in our previous letter, that a radical overhaul is necessary.
That said, we believe that the biggest hurdle to winning youths over is finding our content fit. Team SEAmplified ran a brainstorm session to do exactly that over last weekend, and we’ve narrowed down our new focus to five options:
Youth aspirations across Southeast Asia, and the opportunities Southeast Asia can offer to youths.
The politics of environment and sustainability across Southeast Asia, and how they affect youths.
Issues that intersect politics and technology in Southeast Asia, and how youths shape or are shaped by them.
How youth identity is shaped by technology, and how technology is being used by Southeast Asia’s youth to shape identity.
The politics of education in Southeast Asia, and how youths influence or are influenced by it.
These options were informed by feedback from some of you, as well as our own individual areas of interest. Before going all-in on any one angle, we’d like to test the waters and see which angle sticks out the most. Let us know what you think via our polls on Instagram and Linkedin!
In the meantime, we’ll be rolling out:
Weekly curated reading lists that neatly summarize the latest key developments in Southeast Asian politics. Each list includes one news bite from each Southeast Asian country, as well as five links to resources published by our community peers.
Test pieces that focus on one of the five focus areas. We’d really appreciate any comments on these pieces as we continue to iterate and find the right fit for SEAmplified.
That’s that for this week’s update. Again, please feel free to reach out to us anytime here on Substack, or via email at tianwen.tay@seakoel.com and tanzhantiam@gmail.com!