We analyzed 300+ articles and found something crazy

_{Day 253/100}

Hey—It's Tim. 

I was looking at two "how-to" articles yesterday.

Both ranked on page one. Both had 2,000+ words. Both covered the same topic.

One got shared 847 times. The other got shared 12 times.

What's the difference?

The shape.

We built something no one else has

You know our VIBE score breaks down your content into component parts—originality, depth, method transparency, all that.

But here's what we just figured out:

When you plot those scores on a radar graph, every article has a shape.

And here's the wild part: great articles of the same type have the same shape.

We took 30+ of the best how-to guides on the internet. Then 30+ thought leadership pieces. Then 30+ critical analyses. 30+ of almost every type I could think of.
I have 40 different archetypes in the cooker. 18 of them are ready for production.

We mapped their VIBE scores.

And they formed patterns.

It turns out "how-to" isn't just a format. It's a shape.

Let me show you three

I'm going to post these on LinkedIn and Twitter this week (follow me there if you want to see them all), but here are my three favorites:

Shape #1: The How-To

What makes it distinct:

• High advice strength. Gotta know what you’re on about to write a blog about it.

• High Skimmability. Needs to be easy to read to follow the guide.

• Middle flow consistency (how the reading level changes across a blog). Turns out technical step by steps can be hard to read. Or least hard for a 5th grader…

We have a different archetype for instructional guide. I’ll give you 1 month free Penfriend if you can guess the core difference between a how-to and instructions…

Shape #2: Thought Leadership

What makes it distinct:

• High anecdotal complexity. Stories.

• High perspective. Do you have a measured stance on something, and hold it well?

• And higher advice strength? Can you prove this is from experience?

Turns out that’s the hallmark of thought leadership. There’s your shape. Spikey. Like all good thought leadership.

The most common mistake:

People try to make thought leadership "actionable."

But that's not the shape. Thought leadership's job isn't to teach—it's to reframe. It changes how you think, not what you do.

When you force steps into thought leadership, you break the shape.

Shape #3: Critical Analysis

What makes it distinct:

• Very high evidence quality (you cite everything)

• High limitation awareness (you examine assumptions)

• Very strong clarity. And a strong perspective. This is essentially, do you have a hypothesis to test.

• Lower practical utility (it's not meant to be a guide)

Why these work:

People don't read critical analysis to learn how to do something. They read it to understand why something matters.

It's the shape that builds authority. "This person thinks deeply about this stuff."

Now here's where it gets useful

Every article you write in Penfriend now gets scored against these shapes.

As you write, we’re constantly checking to what archetype you fit the best. The score based on how closely you match it.

From there Penny will give you feedback to help you see what changes you could make to improve your content.

Want to see your article's shape?

Here's what I'm offering:

Reply to this email with:

1. A link to one of your published articles

2. What type you think it is (how-to, thought leadership, etc.)

I'll run it through our VIBE shape analyzer and send you:

• The radar graph of your article

• The ideal shape for that type

• 3 specific adjustments to match the best-performing shape

First 10 replies get this today.

After that, I'll batch the rest and send them Friday.

See you tomorrow.

✌️ Tim "Content is geometry now" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. I’ll be posting more shape analysis on my X, and LinkedIn. Get your asks in over there.

P.P.S. Shoot me over your content, and I’ll send you the shape, and what you can do to better fit it.

Penfriend.ai
Made by content marketers. Used by better ones.