Hey, World! It’s About Time!

I’ve spent months trying to duct tape together what the team at Basecamp just unveiled: Hey, World.

In short, they’ve taken their email service, Hey, and turned it into a privacy-friendly, old-school publishing platform.

I love it.

Just about everyone else in marketing-related businesses will hate it. I bet we see everyone from Salesforce reps to random dudes selling email marketing courses publish posts against this, because it makes sense and it breaks their business model.

Their business model was already broken. It just needed a kick in the pants from the right company.

Enter Hey.

What the people who dislike this kind of open platform don’t understand is that publishing online is all about relationships. Short term sales, opens, and clicks are meaningless compared to long-time customers and readers.

We’ve all heard about 1000 true fans. But I argue you only need 1.

Building strong relationships through publishing leads to opportunities you can’t imagine right now (for you and for your reader). You get to that place by doing what’s best for your reader — building trust over time by providing value in any way they are willing to receive it. You adapt. It shouldn’t be on them to adapt.

If you work for a large company, you know that’s not really possible right now. The tools provided are usually focused on what’s best for the publisher, not the reader. Whatever flips that model on its head will win.

I think Hey World is a winner.

I just wish they had invented it last year and saved me a lot of time and money!