The Signal School · mass media, journalism & screen
Digital, Social & Content Creation
Publishing without a printing press — formats, feeds, and the working habits of a one-person newsroom.
How reading changes on a screen — headlines, structure, links, and prose built for the impatient.
Syllabus · 2 units · ~10 hours
Unit I — The Screen Reader's Habits
How people actually read online · Front-loading: the first fourteen words · Headings, lists, and honest scannability
Unit II — Craft for the Feed
Headlines: accurate and clicked are not enemies · Links as evidence and courtesy · Search intent without writing for robots
Vertical, brief, and unforgiving — hooks, structure, captions, and cutting for viewers with a thumb hovering.
Syllabus · 2 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — The Hook
Why the first seconds decide everything · Cold opens, questions, and pattern breaks · Retention curves: reading the drop-off
Unit II — Making the Piece
Shooting vertical on the phone you have · Pace: a cut or a change every few seconds · Captions, text overlays, and sound-off viewing · Series thinking: one idea, many episodes
What the numbers can and cannot tell you — metrics that matter, vanity figures, and honest interpretation.
Syllabus · 2 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — The Metrics
Reach, impressions, and the difference · Engagement: what the ratio actually measures · Retention and completion: the honest numbers
Unit II — Interpretation
Small samples and loud conclusions · Survivorship and the posts you never see · Testing one change at a time · Reporting to yourself: the monthly review
The oldest new medium — voice, cadence, list growth, and a publication nobody's algorithm can take away.
Syllabus · 2 units · ~8 hours
Unit I — The Publication
Premise and promise: why subscribe · Cadence you can sustain for a year · Subject lines and the open
Unit II — The List
Growth without buying names · Deliverability: staying out of the spam folder · Paid tiers and what readers will pay for
Running the room you built — rules that hold, moderation that scales, and members who stay for each other.
Syllabus · 2 units · ~10 hours
Unit I — Founding
Purpose: what this community is for · Written norms and the first hundred members · Choosing the platform after the purpose
Unit II — Keeping It Alive
Moderation: consistent, visible, humane · Handling conflict and bad-faith actors · Rituals, prompts, and member-led momentum