The Difference Between Writing for People vs. Platforms
Every time I sit down to write, whether it’s a blog, a post, an email, or even a caption, there’s one question that quietly lingers in the background:
Who am I really writing for?
It’s a question I didn’t think about much early in my journey.
I was busy learning the formats, understanding what works, and figuring out how to write content that performs.
I read about algorithms.
I studied hooks.
I followed content patterns.
I learned how to “write for platforms.”
Because that’s what we’re told: write in a way that performs.
Optimize your words for reach.
Write headlines that get clicks.
Follow structures that work.
Use the right keywords, the right tone, and the right format.
And truthfully, all of that does matter.
Understanding platforms helps your words get seen.
If you want your writing to have an impact, it needs to reach people.
And in a noisy digital world, reach isn’t something you can ignore.
But over time, I started noticing something else.
The posts that stayed with me weren’t always the most optimized ones.
They weren’t always the sharpest hooks or the most perfect formats.
They were the ones that felt human.
The ones that sounded like someone wrote them while thinking of me.
The ones that weren’t trying to impress but simply trying to express.
The ones that weren’t just written for me — but written to me.
And that’s the difference I keep coming back to —
Writing for people versus writing for platforms.
Writing for platforms means understanding the system.
Writing for people means understanding emotion.
It’s the difference between content that performs and content that resonates.
Between something that grabs attention and something that holds it.
Writing for people means slowing down.
It means caring less about perfect formatting and more about honest messaging.
It means choosing empathy over metrics, depth over virality, and clarity over cleverness.
It means asking questions like:
→ Will this help someone understand something better?
→ Will this make someone feel seen or heard?
→ Will this leave a lasting thought behind?
And it’s not always easy to balance both.
Because, yes, we want our content to be visible.
But we also want it to be felt.
I’ve come to believe that the best writing happens in the middle.
When you know the rules of the platform, but you still choose to write like you’re talking to one person, not thousands.
Because no algorithm, no metric, no platform update can replace what people remember most:
How your words made them feel.
So whether you’re writing for work, for your audience, or even just for yourself, remember this:
Performance gets attention.
But empathy builds connection.
And connection is what people come back for.
Always.
