Every platform gives some similar metric. The Instagram metric is likes. YouTube plays/likes/retention. Twitter favourites/retweets.
Too much focus on metrics, leads to really weird scenarios. For example, A&E 4-hour-wait targets can incentivise hospitals to leave patients waiting in ambulances (as not to trigger the start of the 4 hour wait).
Goodhart’s Law: When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure
Through 2020, I put reasonable pressure on myself to 1) release a podcast episode weekly and 2) keep growing my audience.
1) Helped keep me consistent and committed, but also led to a lot of late Sunday nights. It also meant I put out episodes I wasn’t particularly proud of.
2) Meant I spent a lot of time doing things that suck the soul out of me. Like social media marketing.