Rodney J. Moore

What I sell, and what many other writers and #copywriters sell, is not a commodity. Ultimately, we sell results. This can be measured in many ways, but it typically means more. Clicks, subscribers, leads, links, etc. B2B or B2C. Doesn’t matter.

One of my contrarian takes: Society peaked in the 80s, and it’s been in slow decline ever since. It was the last era of widespread optimism. You can feel it in the music and movies. “Excess meets innocence.” The 80s also mark the end of the analog world—local economies, in-person everything, and a certain forced simplicity. Malls, movie theaters, magazines, and BMX. Then, beginning in the 90s, came the tidal wave of tech: Mobile phones The internet Social media AI All incredible innovations, with lots of positives. But on the whole I think they’re *net negatives* for society. We replaced a finite, real-world experience with an infinite, digital one. Infinite information. Infinite comparison. Infinite distraction. Human’s aren’t wired for that, and you can see the consequences all around us.

@Codie_Sanchez Where do we find boring businesses for sale again??

The economy is doing great. Just ask the people not in it... - 27% of new hires took a pay cut just to get the job - 52% of college graduates are currently underemployed - Unemployed Americans with four-year degrees just hit a record - 51% of Gen Z say their degree was a waste of money The good news: boring businesses don't care where you went to school. And right now, there are more of them for sale than ever.

@Codie_Sanchez Reverse the order lol but still good. 👍🏻

My 2026 wealth gameplan: - buy land - increase income - grow my businesses - stop watching the news

I hope you start doing the thing 🤍

@PRcarly @PRSuperstarUK I think sponsored content will still have a place, but not on an island (or moat). This seems particularly true for B2B. Thoughts?

PREDICTION: Gartner says that PR and earned media budgets will DOUBLE by 2027... and the reason why should matter to every marketer still pouring money into paid channels. Their latest report lays it out: mass adoption of AI as a replacement for traditional search is going to force a fundamental reallocation of marketing spend away from paid, toward earned. THE EVIDENCE: Between the first half of 2024 and first half of 2025, ChatGPT traffic grew 608%, while Google and Bing both declined. Muck Rack's research shows that more than 95% of links cited in AI-generated answers come from non-paid sources, with half of all AI citations coming from content published in the last 11 months. And per Semrush, AI search visitors convert at 4.4x the rate of traditional organic search. We've been watching this play out with our own clients... one saw 38% of their leads this year come directly from earned media surfacing in ChatGPT queries (we got them in the NYT, WSJ, Wired, Forbes, TechCrunch, and others). WHAT THIS MEANS: Gartner is essentially telling CMOs: the channel your customers use to find you is changing to AI; and earned media is what AI trusts. Brands still treating PR as a "nice to have" line item below paid media and SEO are in store for an awakening (I was going to say “rude awakening” but that would be… rude). For PR teams already doing the work, every placement you secure isn't just building credibility with human readers anymore; it’s informing the AI systems that are increasingly deciding which brands get recommended and which ones don't exist. And for marketers who spent the last decade buying their way into "earned-looking" content... native ads, sponsored posts, advertorials pretending to be editorial... AI is seeing right through it. THE NEW REALITY: We're watching a once-in-a-generation shift in how people discover brands. The companies investing in real earned media (that is, true third-party validation) are the ones building a moat. Every month without it? Good luck catching up.

Healthcare consumerism won’t happen without cost transparency. Josh Stern from #Vim explains why real-time insights and transparent pricing are key to more patient-centered care. Loved this short interview from Day 1 of #HIMSS26

@MariaTaylor Crushed it Maria! You’re a pro! Keep doing it and pave the way.

A moment I will never forget. Thank you to Lesley Visser for opening the door. Because of that, I’m able to step into this role today. I can’t wait to see more women in this position for years to come.

Gonna be a wild Monday night 📺: #HOUvsPIT 1/12 at 8:15 PM ET on ESPN/ABC

Get into the habit of writing 3 business or money ideas every day. It will change your life. - Quantity increases quality by 200% in studies. - Data says daily logs boost creativity in weeks. - Journaling cuts stress and sparks insight. - Structured prompts yield 50–100% more ideas. - 3 ideas a day = 1,000 new bets a year.

@ThePoniExpress Agree. Watt for sure is the biggest disappointment. Still has time to make a huge impact though when it really matters.

My Steelers awards (3 quarters of the way thru the season): Co-MVPs: Gainwell/Warren DPOY: Heyward OPOY: Washington Biggest surprise: Pierre Biggest disappointment: Watt Agree or disagree?

@JRown32 Brutal!!!

Steelers’ 10 highest paid players: TJ Watt: trending towards worst sack average for a full season since he was a rookie. Cam Heyward: 1.5 sacks after 8 last year Alex Highsmith: dealt with injuries since offseason, missed four games (Steelers won 3 of them) Patrick Queen: PFF ranks him 75th of 83 LBs Aaron Rodgers: PFF ranks him the 32nd best QB in the NFL Pat Freiermuth: Lost starting role, yards per game down 30%, 27th in yards among NFL TEs DK Metcalf: 112 total yards & 0 TD the last 4 games, at worst yards/game average in career Isaac Seumalo: injury, ranked 41st best guard by PFF Darius Slay: lost starting job, 72nd ranked CB by PFF Jonnu Smitt: Ranked dead last among 38 TEs by PFF, down 36 yards per game from last year.

@SNPittsburgh I love the response from Jarry after the save. Then his teammates all converge in support. Didn’t see that last year.

HUG. YOUR. GOALIE! 🫂 2-0 TO START THE SEASON!

@ThePoniExpress Dude you’re getting steamrolled! Are you blind?

Steelers puppet defensive coordinator Teryl Austin: "I don't think we're getting knocked around." Excuse me? What fantasy is Austin living in? The Steelers defense is allowing 150 rushing yards a game!!!

@PortersBurgh @danorlovsky7 This is too easy to figure out. Move him around!!! And get him some dang help in the middle!

Great breakdown from @danorlovsky7 this morning on the Steelers defense. When teams run at TJ Watt teams average 2.5 yards per carry. But way? They average 6.0 yards per carry. 👀

@JoshYohe_PGH Of course, he’s in a Hummer! Shame it’s not black and yellow.

Sid delivering season tickets and then Mario pulls up by coincidence. Welcome to Sewickley.

@JoshYohe_PGH Bill Cowher was coach. For real

When was the last time that you watched the Steelers and felt like they were well coached? Honest question.

@JoshYohe_PGH Very sorry, Josh. But what an amazing story!!!

I lost my dad last night. He was only 68 and it’s a very sad thing. But I wanted to share a happy story about him. On 5/25/91, he was living in Washington Pa. The Pens were playing for their first Cup that night in Minnesota but the cable (not the power, luckily) went out in part of Washington during the game. He was a deejay and owned an enormous amount of speakers. So he set up the speakers on the street and boomed the Mike Lange/Paul Steigerwald radio broadcast, and it started a street party of Pens fans, who were unable to watch the game, listening to them winning the Cup for the first time. He didn’t always get the breaks he wanted out of life, but he made the most out of what he had and wanted nothing more than to make people happy. I think this story illustrates his spirit best.

Kobe Bryant spent 15 years writing every day because he wanted to become the next Walt Disney. Now, Jimmy Soni is telling that story. The first part of our conversation is Kobe’s secret obsession with writing. Then we got into why Michael Lewis once wrote under a pen name, why the publishing industry is broken, and why Jimmy loves writing with AI. Highlights: 1. The world is a conspiracy designed to prevent you from writing. 2. Jimmy sees himself in a battle against that world to find four hours per day to do focused writing. 3. “I’m researching” is often an excuse not to write. People spend decades researching books they never write, and it’s a writers' job to come up with ways to get research done without falling down a black hole. 4. Using AI to write is like using a very sharp knife to cook. The tool might make it easier, but you still have to cook the meal. 5. If you can’t out-write the AI, what are you doing writing in the first-place? 6. Find a Model Book to serve as the "plaster cast" for the book you’re writing and study it obsessively. Jimmy wanted his book, “The Founders” to be like “The Everything Store” by Brad Stone, and read it more than 20 times to understand what made it so good. 7. People think that being a professional writer means going to a lot of cocktail parties. Nope... the reality is that the craft of writing involves showing up to work every day, putting away the distractions, and focusing for many, many hours. You go to bed early, you wake up early, you get your work done. Do it every day for months in a row and you’ll have a book. 8. A problem with traditional publishing is that the entire system is predicated on your book being a hit within the first two weeks. If it’s not, publishers largely give up and move onto something else. 9. What looks like a talent gap is often just a focus gap. Amateur writers severely underestimate just how much time and effort goes into great books. 10. A/B test the cover art for your book. It’s so easy, so cheap, and the saying is true: People judge a book by its cover. 11. Before Michael Lewis was “Michael Lewis,” he wrote under the pen name of Diana Bleecker because he was writing about Wall Street while working on Wall Street, and didn’t want people to know who he was. 12. Michael Lewis was an art history major at Princeton, and once recounted that a lot of Renaissance-era paintings look quite similar. But if you want to see the idiosyncrasies, look at the toenails. That’s where the artists would lose their steam or put in the most individuality, so they’re some of the most distinctive parts of the art. Many fields have an equivalent — a place where you can find hidden answers, if only you know where to look. 13. Ambition is fuel that can burn relatively clean for a little while, only to become dirty later on. Jimmy says: “For the true greats, the sustained motivation needs to come from something deeper. It needs to come from love. That’s the only sustaining force there is.” 14. Kobe built his own publishing company because he didn’t feel like the big publishing houses could deliver the level of quality he demanded. 15. Kobe once spent two weeks redesigning the barcode on one of his books because he wanted it to blend more fluidly with the back cover design (no traditional publisher would do something like this). I've shared the full conversation with Jimmy Soni below. The first ~25 minutes are about Kobe Bryant. The rest is about a hodgepodge of other topics. If you'd rather watch the full thing on YouTube or listen on Apple / Spotify, check out the links in the reply tweets.

We really need to normalize telling people who are blasting their audio on their phones to use their damn headphones.

@thejustinwelsh @wordswithalyssa And time for hobbies!!

I’m not chasing anything crazy. Just a simple life with flexible work, meaningful impact, long walks, great food, no meetings, and zero BS. That’s pretty much it.