With limited attention, and global reach, competition over status is fierce, with few winners. Where it might once have been possible to sustain local competitions in status—local writers, musicians, celebrities, etc.—the global stage allows only a select few to have global status. Cultural filters, aiming to present only the “best-of-the-best” have a large pool of “the best” to select from, and a much smaller number of picks to make.
Conversely, it becomes possible for narrow selection criteria to be successful: your niche hobby may not have had enough partakers to sustain a local store, but enough hobbyists exist globally to make an online store profitable. Winning a shared, common game might no longer be feasible, but winning one of the many flourishing niches is. Therefore, it might be judicious to focus your talents on a particular niche or audience, rather than aiming to be everything for everyone. The odds are that you aren’t among the best writers in the world, but when it comes to being the best at a particular subject, the odds might just be in your favor, and an audience might be there for you to capture.