For today’s episode, Mike is joined by Tim O'Hearn, a software engineer, former Black Hat growth practitioner, and the author of Framed a Villain's Perspective on Social Media. For many years, Tim’s been inside the system, building tools that successfully manipulated feeds, scaled fake social media engagement and exploited attention at a mass scale.
It is fair to say Tim has his finger on the pulse when it comes to what works on social media and what doesn´t. Yet, the approach he now advocates may surprise you.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Mastering tech growth means capturing as much of the audience as is feasible
Understand the difference between a founder brand and a business brand and don´t mix the two.
Stop chasing virality.
Searcher intent matters more than you think.
It´s now almost impossible to reverse engineer and beat the algorithm. If you try, it raises black flags.
Most social media platforms do not allow the use of automation tools; some can even be illegal.
Some social media platforms shadow ban you which makes you less visible when they see guidelines being breached.
You will have a trust score on social media. Tim explains how to protect that score.
Taking the time you normally spend scrolling through socials and using it to tackle a big project is an incredibly powerful way to step up your game.
Personalised outreach works; it outstrips everything else.
Algorithm engineers are the new lobbyists.
BEST MOMENTS
5.15 - "It's becoming surprisingly easy to start something. And then it becomes this game of attention online."
15.51 - "Often times chasing it (virality) means compromising the values of your brand."
21.00 - "Generative AI is a big problem."
36.07 "To my knowledge, in 2025 automation, in the general sense, is forbidden by most social media platforms."
53.08 "Even for us, we don't have a great way of identifying shadow bans as they happen."
55.17 "If you try to grey hat or black hat, it might just lead to you losing all your efforts to grow that account."
1.15.15 "That same (anti-terrorism) technology could very easily be used for mass censorship or surveillance of dissenting opinions. I think that is happening. I just don't know to what extent.”
1.26.35 "Personalized outreach is really, really important."
1.39.40 "An email list is the greatest safeguard against a platform banning you, or you getting de-platformed."
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I really want to know what you're working on and what keeps you up at night.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Framed-Villains-Perspective-Social-Media-ebook/dp/B0DW2X8YSK
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tohearn
ABOUT THE HOST
Meet Mike, a seasoned tech entrepreneur and visionary with over two and a half decades of invaluable experience in founding and scaling successful tech start-ups. Mike brings a wealth of firsthand knowledge, and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by entrepreneurs and tech professionals.
As a host, Mike is dedicated to sharing actionable insights, strategies, and stories gathered from conversations with industry leaders, innovators, and experts. With a remarkable ability to distil practical wisdom from guests, Mike curates engaging discussions that resonate with both aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned professionals.
This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/