This chapter covers
- Blog posts that are highly opinionated takes on industry trends
- Their purpose and audience
- How various authors approached this type of post
- Key elements of successful “Thoughts on Trends” posts
- Dos and don’ts for your own “Thoughts on Trends” post
“Thoughts on Trends” articles are highly opinionated, far more than any other pattern, because the author’s opinion is the core feature of the article. This pattern works best if you’ve already established a position as an expert, either in a niche or technology in general.
Note that the term “an expert” is not limited to industry luminaries and popular social media figures. For example, given an article about new trends in web development, an expert author could be
- A web developer with a few years of experience
- A contributor to a popular web development framework
- The author of a few blog posts about web development
- The host of a podcast about web development
- A conference speaker who has delivered a few talks about web development
Across patterns, articles that go viral are likely to be authored by a known technologist, although exceptions certainly do occur. But in the “Thoughts on Trends” pattern, that bias is particularly pronounced.
Don’t let that discourage you, though! In this chapter, we look closely at how established experts approach this challenge so you can pull off this pattern like a master whenever you’re ready.
