{"id":24,"date":"2025-11-12T21:19:02","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T21:19:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/?p=24"},"modified":"2025-11-17T03:04:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T03:04:09","slug":"the-algorithm-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/?p=24","title":{"rendered":"The Algorithm Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-1-1024x682.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-81\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-1-1024x682.png 1024w, https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-1-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-1-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-1.png 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">Photo by <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/users\/kranich17-11197573\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kranich17<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">by Tony Thomas<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I remember the early days of the Internet. It was the 90s. Life was much simpler then. Social media was just getting started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the help of Netscape Composer, I created my own HTML website. Getting visibility was easy. It showed up on the first page of Google with zero effort on my part!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Back then, you could reach a global audience effortlessly. And with the introduction of MP3 files, it was easy to share the music you created. No gatekeepers or middlemen to deal with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Things are different now. Creativity is locked behind platform walls and guarded by algorithms. Your work is out there, but your intended audience may never see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Shift from Open to Closed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then came Facebook, YouTube, and Spotify. They promised global reach, but silently rewrote the rules of discovery. Organic reach evaporated, and getting seen became pay to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The gatekeepers determined what people saw, what they heard, and even what they created. Adapt or perish, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Creative passion was replaced by restrained conformity. Writers target SEO. Musicians make viral TikTok videos. Artists design for the scroll, not for the wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Creative freedom is shrinking. Audiences are deprived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Jailbreak<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As bleak as it sounds, there are some holes in the prison wall:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Own your audience. Make it portable. Build an email list. Launch your own website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Diversify by using multiple platforms that can generate income: Bandcamp. Medium. Substack. YouTube. Gumroad. Etsy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Turn your fans into friends and vocal supporters. Cherish every subscriber, every email and every sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Stay creative and embrace thankfulness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Algorithm Prison isn\u2019t inevitable. It is your time to break free. Don\u2019t wait for platforms to hand back your creativity. You can build it outside the prison walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>My Book<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I became so immersed in this problem that I wrote a book about it. My goal is to hand you back your creativity so that you can watch the walls that confine you fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Algorithm Prison: How Creators Can Escape the Platforms That Control Discovery\u201d is now available as an e-book on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, and other distribution platforms worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I hope you enjoy it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8212;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Algorithm Prison: How Creators Can Escape the Platforms That Control Discovery<\/strong><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-amazon wp-block-embed-amazon\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Algorithm Prison: How Creators Can Escape the Platforms That Control Discovery\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"500\" height=\"550\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen style=\"max-width:100%\" src=\"https:\/\/read.amazon.com\/kp\/card?preview=inline&#038;linkCode=kpd&#038;ref_=k4w_oembed_polwqPXG9nkqYh&#038;asin=B0FN49C8ZP&#038;tag=kpembed-20\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo by Kranich17 by Tony Thomas I remember the early days of the Internet. It was the 90s. Life was much simpler then. Social media was just getting started. With the help of Netscape Composer, I created my own HTML website. Getting visibility was easy. It showed up on the first page of Google with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[12,15,13,16,14],"class_list":["post-24","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-algorithm","tag-artists","tag-creators","tag-music-producers","tag-writers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82,"href":"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions\/82"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tonythomas.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}