Classic tips to avoid the echo chamber

In this world where algorithms are increasingly dictating what content we see every day, I’ve been working hard to avoid getting trapped in an echo chamber ( as I’ve mentioned before). This recently came up again when Darren Rowse pointed to a 15-year-old post from Chris Pirillo ( summarized by Angelo Racoma) that had some amazingly timeless tips in it.

His tips, and my thoughts on how to make them work for you:

Don’t live inside your news aggregator
Funny enough, I really encourage people to use an RSS-based news aggregator, to help avoid the algorithms of social media. I stand by that, but Chris makes a good point that you can create your own echo chamber in there if you’re not careful. Make sure to follow sources you agree with, as well as ones that you don’t, so you can always get a full picture.

Say something original at least once a day
I think I have that covered here, at least fairly well, but I’m working to get a bit more engaged on Twitter, which should help further.

If warranted, quote an “unknown” source
I really like this one. If a quote is valuable, use it. Don’t worry if it wasn’t said by some big name, if there is value then you should be sharing it no matter how “unknown” they might be.