Chapter 3 Exercises

Exercise 1: The Terms of Service Audit (Critical Reading)

Estimated time: 45–60 minutes Type: Individual analysis

Choose your primary content platform (or one you're planning to use). Find and read these specific sections:

  1. Intellectual property and license grant: What rights does the platform receive to your content when you upload it? Is this license exclusive? Does it end when you delete the content?
  2. Account termination: Under what circumstances can the platform terminate your account? Is this list exhaustive or does it include "any other reason we determine"?
  3. Revenue changes: Can the platform change the revenue split or payment terms? What notice are they required to give?
  4. Data use: What data about you and your audience does the platform collect? What can they do with it?
  5. Dispute resolution: If you have a dispute with the platform, what process applies? Is there an arbitration clause? Does it waive your right to a class action lawsuit?

Write a 300-word brief summarizing your findings. Highlight the two most significant things you found that you didn't previously know or hadn't thought about. Write a one-sentence "risk rating" for this platform based on what you read.

Exercise 2: Platform Dependency Audit (Self-Assessment + Strategy)

Estimated time: 30–45 minutes Type: Individual strategy

For creators who are already active, complete the following:

Step 1: Map your current platform distribution Create a table with every platform where you have an audience (even if small). For each, record: - Approximate follower/subscriber count - Estimated monthly reach (how many unique people see your content in a typical month) - Any current revenue from this platform (even if $0) - Your "ownership score" for this platform: 1 = no data, no contacts, pure algorithmic; 5 = direct contact info, owned channel, no algorithm required

Step 2: Calculate your concentration risk What percentage of your total reach is on your largest single platform? What percentage of your current or anticipated revenue comes from your largest single platform?

Step 3: Identify your owned assets What, if anything, do you own completely? Email list? Podcast subscribers (RSS)? Website? Phone SMS list? Discord (note: you don't fully own this either)?

Step 4: Write a 200-word resilience plan If your largest platform disappeared tomorrow, what would happen to your business? What are the three most important things you could build in the next 90 days to reduce that vulnerability?

If you don't yet create content: Do this exercise for a creator you actively follow. Analyze their platform distribution and assess their dependence risk.

Exercise 3: Decode the Algorithm (Observation + Analysis)

Estimated time: Ongoing, this week Type: Field experiment

Choose a platform you use regularly. For one week, engage in a deliberate algorithm experiment:

Days 1–2 (baseline): Use the platform normally. Note what content appears in your discovery feed (For You Page, homepage, recommended, etc.). Screenshot or log the types of content you see.

Days 3–5 (signal change): Deliberately engage with a different type of content than you normally do. If you normally watch cooking content, spend 15 minutes watching finance content instead. Note: do not like or save this content — just watch it. Observe how the algorithm adjusts.

Days 6–7 (reversal): Return to your normal engagement patterns. Note how quickly (if at all) your feed returns to baseline.

Write a 300-word reflection: What did you observe about how the algorithm responds to behavior? What does this tell you about how creators can influence their own algorithmic reach? What does it tell you about how you, as an audience member, are being shaped by the algorithm?

Exercise 4: The Three-Platform Strategy (Planning)

Estimated time: 45–60 minutes Type: Creative strategy

Design a three-platform content distribution strategy for a creator in one of the following niches: - A veterinarian who wants to build an audience of pet owners - A 22-year-old who has built significant expertise in video game speedrunning - A community organizer working on housing affordability issues in a mid-sized city - A textile artist who creates hand-dyed fabric using traditional techniques - A student who has become genuinely knowledgeable about personal finance through necessity

For your chosen niche, design a strategy that includes: 1. Discovery platform (top of funnel): Which high-reach platform is most appropriate? Why? What type of content would work there? 2. Community platform (middle of funnel): Where would engaged fans go deeper? Discord? A podcast? A YouTube channel for longer content? 3. Owned channel (bottom of funnel): What direct communication channel would you build? Email newsletter? Podcast RSS? What would the opt-in incentive be?

Write a 350-word strategy memo as if you are advising this creator. Include specific platform choices, content types, and the explicit logic connecting each layer of the funnel.

Exercise 5: Platform Governance Simulation (Group Role-Play)

Estimated time: 45–60 minutes Type: Group exercise (4–6 people)

Setup: Assign roles in this scenario: - One person plays a creator whose account has been demonetized - One person plays a platform representative (responsible for defending the policy decision) - One person plays an advocate for the creator - One or two people play a "policy review board" that will hear the appeal

The scenario: A creator with 280,000 subscribers runs a channel about trauma recovery and mental health. One video, "My Experience with Suicidal Ideation — What Helped," receives an automated demonetization flag under the platform's "sensitive topics" policy. The video follows platform guidelines for discussing mental health (no method discussion, no glorification), is clearly educational and supportive in tone, and has 97% positive viewer feedback. It also has one of the highest watch time rates of any video on the channel.

The creator is appealing the demonetization.

The role-play: The platform representative presents the policy rationale. The creator's advocate argues for restoration of monetization. The policy review board asks questions and makes a decision.

Debrief questions: 1. What was the strongest argument for the platform's position? For the creator's? 2. What would a fair governance system look like for decisions like this? 3. How does the outcome of this role-play change if the creator is Black and the topic is specifically about racial trauma, rather than general mental health?

Exercise 6: The Marcus Webb Decision Tree (Applied Analysis)

Estimated time: 30–40 minutes Type: Individual analysis

Reread the Marcus Webb section (Section 1.5) of this chapter. Marcus is facing a demonetization strike on his YouTube channel and has 1,847 email subscribers.

Map out the decision tree Marcus faces:

Decision 1: Appeal the demonetization (yes/no/both)? - What are the arguments for appealing immediately? - What are the arguments for not spending time on the appeal? - What's the opportunity cost of either choice?

Decision 2: How should he communicate with his audience about the strike? - Option A: Say nothing publicly, handle it quietly - Option B: Explain on YouTube what happened - Option C: Email his list, be transparent - Option D: All of the above - What are the risks and benefits of each approach?

Decision 3: What should he build in the next 30 days to reduce his platform dependency? - List at least three concrete actions he could take - For each, estimate the time investment and the likely impact on his business resilience

Write a 250-word recommendation to Marcus, as if you are his business advisor. Be specific. Which decisions should he make, and why? What should he prioritize?

Exercise 7: The Equity Analysis (Research + Writing)

Estimated time: 45–60 minutes Type: Individual research and reflection

The chapter cites documented evidence of platform governance bias — TikTok's 2020 content suppression policies, Meta's algorithmic suppression of Black-owned business content, YouTube's demonetization patterns, Twitter/X's enforcement disparities.

Choose one of these cases and research it further. Find: - The original reporting or research that documented the issue - The platform's official response - Any changes the platform claimed to make as a result - Any independent verification of whether those changes were implemented

Then write a 400-word analysis answering: 1. What was the specific mechanism of the bias (algorithm, policy, human review, automated system)? 2. What was the documented impact on affected creators? 3. Was the platform's response adequate? What would an adequate response look like? 4. As a creator from the affected demographic, what strategic responses are available to you within the current system? 5. As a creator not from the affected demographic, what responsibility, if any, do you have to address these structural issues?