I was invited to The FutureX Podcast by Lee Schneider to talk about building Literal — our strategies for growing the platform, how we thought about community design, and why book lovers tend to be a unique audience.
One of the things we discussed was how the design of a platform shapes user behavior. Twitter rewards arguments, Facebook can amplify untruths — but when you design for readers, something different happens.
We also talked about our approach to influencers. Instead of going the traditional route, we worked with readers who genuinely cared about books and had built small, engaged communities around reading. That authenticity was more valuable than any paid promotion.