Answer by Jordan Phoenix:
I will start off this answer by asking you an even more important question.
How do you go about making good friends? Not rhetorically. I mean you, personally. How do you do it?
Really think about this. Throughout the course of your life, on many different occasions, you’ve certainly met and befriended people, and developed close bonds with them.
Think about some of them. Think about how and why you became friends with those specific people. There must have been something you said or did that made each one of those people’s lives easier or better in some way. Most likely, you did one or more of these things:
1. Made them laugh
2. Inspired them
3. Were passionate and did something exciting or interesting
4. Explained something to them in a way that made it easier to understand
5. Went out of your way to help them
6. Were generous or patient
7. Were empathetic, loyal, and cared about them
8. Believed certain things that they found honorable
9. Did certain things that they found admirable or courageous
10. Stood up for them when someone was treating them unfairlyAs a result, these people keep in touch with you. They share their stuff with you, help you, and are interested in hearing what you have to say.
Quora views work exactly the same way.
When you post something, go into it with the intention that everyone who reads it is your friend, and that you want to add as much value to their lives as you possibly can. Really put effort into making it useful, and people will want to read it. They will upvote it, share it, and it will spread like wildfire. It’s like karma. You get out what you put in.
One person who read The Unbelievable Power of A Belief told me: “I feel like I should have paid you to read that.” Simply being truthful and helpful will easily lift your content above all of the nonsense and snake oil that heavily populates the internet today.
These are ten of my posts that have 25,000+ views:
This was the first answer I ever posted on Quora, and it still remains my most viewed post with over 230,000 (dumb luck maybe?): What is the most important thing that you have ever learned from a movie?
This one got big because it was a very detailed design concept that I had spent several months working on as part of the work I was doing with a non-profit organization: What are some efficient designs for a tiny home?
This is an amazing story that I read that I absolutely loved and had to share: Fellow Quoran Teaches Homeless Man To Code
This post I simply wrote as a note to myself on my phone while half-asleep. I literally rolled over in bed and brain vomited this out, and had no idea it was going to be such a big hit: A Deep Thought From The Universe
This is just a list of talks I found over the years that I found really helpful: 11 TED Talks That Will Change Your Life
This one uses some French in the title to catch your attention, but it’s also got some valuable lessons in there: Fuck Your Comfort Zone
Some stream of consciousness writing I did while walking around NYC: How To Get Along With Strangers
Some great advice that inspired me from a modern day philosophical comedian: Tough Love
This was something controversial that I felt needed to be said to shed some light upon the widespread misinformation that surrounds it: Should I start smoking weed?
When all else fails, show some boob: What is a good fitness plan for someone who is extremely busy?
Lastly, add in an interesting picture.
This photo has nothing to do with the answer, yet you are at least 7x more likely to have clicked on this answer because you thought these formulas contained the secret to getting past Quora’s pearly gates. Shame on you for trying to game the system. I would never do that. 🙂
*Note: The number one most important post that I really wish everyone would read is this one — The Poverty Wiki — which sits around only 4k views at the moment. I’d like to see it break one million in 2014.