Why no one creates "original" content anymore

Yesterday, I watched a very interesting video from Aprilynne Alter called:
"Why No One Makes "Original" Videos Anymore"

The thesis of this video is the following:
Youtube (and Social Media in general) has been solved:
Now that creating content online has become the job of millions of people...
All the ingredients that make online content work has been decoded by analyst and strategist.
And those people, whose entire job are scrolling on social media all day long and understanding what works, realized something:

If a video has gone viral and exceeded the channel average number of views...
It means that there is something inside that video that is worth replicating.
And most often, in YouTube cases, it will be a combination of a viral title + thumbnail + a good intro + good video pacing to keep viewer retention high.
(This is basically the equation of a good youtube video)

And because creating Youtube videos is for a lot of people (me included) a big part of what drives their income...
Leveraging proven ingredients that worked and remixing them with your own sauce is the best way to "guarantee" video success in a sense.
This reduce the risk and maximize the rewards of investing time, money and energy in creating a YouTube video.

But because everyone do this (and for good reasons), it leads to a feeling that every piece of content is the same.
Aprilynne thumbnail is a very funny example of that phenomena, with that concept of the "7 Levels Of" and the rainbow-like thumbnail that goes with it.
(This probably means I should create a video called "The 7 Levels Of Claude Code" btw lol)

Reutilizing proven piece of content and leveraging it for your own content is called Outlier Theory.
It's also basically the entire thesis of the new Eden App:
Finding proven viral ideas worth reutilizing for your own brand.
And it works. For sure.
The recent success of creators like Craig Perry or my friend Hussain Ibarra prove it well:
They mastered Outlier Theory to get viral.
They found proven, validated ideas and format and leveraged them to grow their audience.

(Now don't get me wrong: I'm not saying to copy-paste proven content and steal the credits. The point here is to find already proven ideas and then use them to get initial traction while creating your own content with your own ideas and perspectives. Hussain and Craig are both great writers and hard workers and their success is 100% deserved. As Picasso said, don't copy, steal)

So if you want to grow fast as a writer and creator on social media in 2026?
Spam Outlier Theory.
Find the viral threads format, the viral ideas, the viral newsletters, steal the hooks and titles, and then create content with your own twist on top of that to make it unique.
The idea should be yours, the packaging should leverage what already works to make sure it gets eyeballs.
It's the best way to avoid the "starving artist malediction" that plagues most people on Substack.

Now does spamming outlier theory means that you lose originality ?
Well... Yes I guess so.
It doesn't mean you can't be unique and impactful at all.
But yeah, it means you're conforming yourself to some kinds of format or packaging.
Once again, I don't think it's a bad thing, I think it's actually the most rational and strategic way to succeed.
But at the same time, if you have an artist soul, this can also kill your inspiration.

In her video, Aprilynne even argue that it can even restrain your success in the long run:
Yes using Outlier Theory will get you better results on the short term, but it also means that you don't develop the skills and intuition to find novel ideas that will differentiate you from the mass.

That's the paradox:
Creating art vs creating content.
If you only create art without thinking about the packaging at all...
Well you'll probably create stuff that no one reads because and perpetuate the starving artist malediction.
But if you only spam outlier theory...
Then you might just become a content farm that doesn't fulfill you and leaves you empty.

The answer lies in finding the right sweet spot:
Use outlier theory, especially at the beginning, to get known, build your initial audience and already understand what make viral content viral in the first place.
But as you grow, leave place for experimentation and innovation at the same time, where you don't try to please the algorithm and actually follow your intuition.
Your odds of success with your experimentation will also be way higher because you'll already have a great understanding of viral content from your past content created using Outlier Theory.

The mistakes is going in the extreme.
Never caring about the algorithm and the packaging will lead you to create content that will probably never get discovered by people...
Only caring about it will disconnect you.
Find the right sweet spot, according to your actual goals with your writing and business.

That sweet spot if hard to find, even for me.
Especially because it's not something that's fixed, it evolves with your intuition, inspiration and how you feel in the moment.
That's part of the many invisible challenges behind being a Creator.
But my hope this email will still provide you some value and understanding of what it means to succeed as a creator in 2026.

I wish you an amazing day,
And see you tomorrow.
Welcome back to the Ark,
Noah