People who have worked in growth should all know that the most painful thing now is not product development, but distribution.

The previous problem was that content production was too expensive; now the problem has become that garbage content is too cheap.
AI has almost driven the cost of content creation to zero, resulting in all platforms being flooded with a large amount of decent content.
But the real problem arises: when everyone can generate content in bulk, who should users trust?
In the past few years, the marginal effect of traditional advertising has actually been declining; many brands’ advertising data looks okay on the surface, but genuine user trust has been severely overdrawn.
So I increasingly agree with a saying: the strongest marketing channel in the future is not media, but people.
Not because internet celebrities are better at selling products, but because people have now become a rare filter.
A real person willing to openly express preferences is essentially bearing the screening cost on behalf of the audience.
That’s also why I think communities and fans are actually two completely different things.
Fans are just people who have seen your content; communities are people willing to trust your judgment. The business value gap between these two will only grow larger.
In the future, many companies may find that, with the same budget, finding a hundred truly trustworthy small creators is more effective than throwing money at a few popular celebrities.
Because AI is flooding the content space, while interpersonal trust is becoming increasingly valuable again.