With the recent example of Amazon’s AWS service arbitrarily killing a business’s website by revoking the company’s hosting contract, the question must be asked – If a service provider can suddenly decide to not provide you service, how can you continue to reach your audience? The short answer is one of the foundational elements of the internet – the original POP… Post Office Protocol. Email.
POP servers have (and are) a staple of the internet. They deliver (most) user verification and forgot password emails. They notify people of updates on the websites they use. They give status updates for online purchases, and ticketing information for travel itinerary. And yes, they also deliver spam. But, with laws like the CAN-SPAM ACT, (legitimate) businesses are required to allow people to opt-out of junk mail, which actually does work, when users actually use the functionality. Email works perfectly.
Over the past many years, services like facebook, instagram, and other social networks have tried to get their users to move to proprietary messaging apps – like facebook messenger. Unfortunately, many people have bought into those applications, choosing to reduce their use of email and go for the sudo-mail-instant messaging functionality of those sites. One of the major problems with that is, the people you want to communicate with must have that service. Another serious problem is that many of them don’t offer the ability to backup, search, or move those messages. Not to mention, those services read EVERY WORD you type, and use your information to sell to you – as well as to sell your information to the highest bidder. And even worse, if those services decide they don’t like what you’re writing… they’ll just ban you or de-platform you altogether. And you have no recourse to get your old messages (or continue communicating with your friends, or clients.) But… you clicked “Accept” on the 3-mile long page of lawyer mumbo-jumbo (also called the “Terms Of Service”) that you didn’t read (and wouldn’t understand anyway.)
So, what’s the alternative? Email and email newsletters. The single most popular tool on the internet. The original tool of the internet. As a user, you can easily backup, move, store, and search email messages, whether you use a mail program, or web-based email. As a business, you can keep building your email list, allowing customers to sign up to hear from you. And you can communicate with them as much (or as little) as you choose to (assuming you don’t fill their inbox with junk, and they unsubscribe.) Successful websites like The Daily Wire, Dave Rubin, Dave Ramsey, and countless other businesses who sell products, already use email newsletters to reach their customers and audience – and the magic is… they can keep reaching you, even if a social media or web hosting platform decides to kill their website because they don’t like their content.
The takeaway… If you’re a individual, sign up for the newsletters of your favorite content providers. If you’re a business, start building your email list, and send out an appropriate amount of email to keep your audience connected. With the currently climate of segregation and hate, you never know when a company you pay decides to screw you, just because they can.