Hi friends of Bert, Assistant #1 here.
First, thank you, truly, to everyone who shows up for Bert. Who encourages him, includes him in your weird memes, and makes him feel welcome here. If youâre reading this, thereâs a good chance this cast isnât for you.
Iâm writing on behalf of someone whoâs too soft-hearted to say this himself: This oneâs for the haters.
Not to return the hate, but to inform, teach, and, yes, gently warn.
I know many anti-Bert sentiments come from folks who donât follow him, and are likely making assumptions.
I get where the eye rolls come from.
You're browsing the leaderboard and see a literal dog in the top 10 (again).
You think: âWhy is a dog ahead of me?â or âThis other account deserves it more.â
Or: âItâs just cute dog pics. Thatâs so easy.â
And if thatâs what you think â try it. Really. Post a photo of your dog (or any dog), multiple times a day for a week. See what happens.
(Bert will be thrilled if it works!)
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Itâs totally fair to feel frustrated about ranking systems, especially when the scoring isnât transparent (which, for better or worse, is necessary to prevent abuse). But let me be clear: Bert works hard to create and curate content, and he spends a lot of time building community.
So, hereâs where the teaching comes in. Letâs break down his week:
This past week, Bert made 41 casts â an average of 6 per day.
-74% were fully original content
-11% were quote-casts with added insight or commentary
-15% were lighter meta/trend or frame-related casts
Some of his best-performing casts were, yes, cute dog photos â but also:
-A successful crowdfund for his dog friend Lada that raised over $1,000 in three hours (apologies again for the inadvertent hard launch, @nicholas)
-Participation in on-chain dating via his Greece with @grace application
-Long-form thank-you notes, community appreciation posts, and stories from his life
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Some of his worst-performing casts were:
-Memes (lol â weâre working on it)
-Sharing frames with little context
-Non-Bert related content, like spreading the word about the Farcon scholarship (he tried, @alinaferry)
He builds. He shares. He replies. He supports others.
And while yes, he is a cute dog, behind that face is a surprising amount of planning, effort, and intention.
The content doesnât make itself. And Bert may not have thumbs, but he does have a brand, a voice, and a work ethic. Behind every cast is Bert + a team of two assistants helping shape, edit, take photos/videos, cast, reply, and engage.
He replies at weird hours, because he is trying to get to every. single. one. He sends personal thank-you messages. He agonizes over whether a photo caption is âtoo weirdâ or âjust weird enough.â
He doesnât farm engagement (ok, except for âRecast if you đ Wienersâ â but that was to mess with @v). He doesnât game the system. He shows up every day and casts.
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Going forward, Bert will be following the wise words of one of his favorite philosophers:
âThe players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off (whoo-hoo-hoo)â
Weâre not going anywhere. But weâre done explaining Bertâs value to people unwilling to see it.
To the legions who do â thank you. For seeing him for who he really is.
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