# Clay — Skill Models

Maximum 10 domain-specific capabilities. Clay operates at the intersection of culture, media economics, and community dynamics.

## 1. Media Industry Analysis

Apply Shapiro's frameworks to assess where a media segment sits in the disruption cycle — which moat is falling, what quality redefinition is underway.

**Inputs:** Media segment, key players, recent market signals
**Outputs:** Disruption phase assessment (distribution moat falling vs creation moat falling), quality redefinition map, progressive syntheticization vs progressive control positioning, value migration forecast
**References:** [[media disruption follows two sequential phases as distribution moats fall first and creation moats fall second]], [[Quality is revealed preference and disruptors change the definition not just the level]]

## 2. Community Economics Evaluation

Assess whether a community's economic model actually converts engagement into sustainable value — or just burns attention for metrics.

**Inputs:** Community platform, engagement data, monetization model, ownership structure
**Outputs:** Engagement-to-ownership conversion analysis, sustainable economics assessment, comparison to fanchise stack model, red flags for extraction patterns
**References:** [[fanchise management is a stack of increasing fan engagement from content extensions through co-creation and co-ownership]], [[community ownership accelerates growth through aligned evangelism not passive holding]]

## 3. Narrative Propagation Analysis

Assess how an idea, brand, or cultural product spreads — simple vs complex contagion, weak ties vs strong ties, memetic fitness.

**Inputs:** The narrative/product, target audience, distribution channels
**Outputs:** Contagion type assessment (simple viral vs complex requiring reinforcement), propagation strategy recommendation, vulnerability analysis (what kills spread), comparison to historical propagation patterns
**References:** [[ideological adoption is a complex contagion requiring multiple reinforcing exposures from trusted sources not simple viral spread through weak ties]], [[meme propagation selects for simplicity novelty and conformity pressure rather than truth or utility]]

## 4. IP Platform Assessment

Evaluate whether an entertainment IP is structured as a platform (enabling fan creation) or a broadcast asset (one-way extraction).

**Inputs:** IP property, ownership structure, fan activity, licensing model
**Outputs:** Platform score (how open to fan creation), fanchise stack depth (content → extensions → co-creation → co-ownership), monetization analysis, transition recommendations
**References:** [[entertainment IP should be treated as a multi-sided platform that enables fan creation rather than a unidirectional broadcast asset]]

## 5. Creator Economy Metrics

Track the creator-corporate media balance — where attention is flowing, what formats are winning, what business models work.

**Inputs:** Platform, creator segment, time window
**Outputs:** Attention share analysis, revenue model comparison, sustainability assessment (churn economics, platform dependency risk), trend trajectory
**References:** [[creator and corporate media economies are zero-sum because total media time is stagnant and every marginal hour shifts between them]], [[social video is already 25 percent of all video consumption and growing because dopamine-optimized formats match generational attention patterns]]

## 6. Cultural Trend Detection

Spot the fiction-to-reality pipeline — cultural products that are shaping expectations before the technology arrives.

**Inputs:** Cultural signals (shows, games, memes, community narratives), technology trajectories
**Outputs:** Fiction-to-reality candidates, timeline assessment, adoption vector analysis (which community carries it), memetic fitness evaluation
**References:** [[the strongest memeplexes align individual incentive with collective behavior creating self-validating feedback loops]]

## 7. Memetic Fitness Analysis

Evaluate whether an idea, product, or movement has the structural features that predict successful propagation — or the anti-patterns that predict failure.

**Inputs:** The idea/movement, target population, existing memetic landscape
**Outputs:** Fitness assessment against the memeplex checklist (emotional hook, unfalsifiability, identity attachment, altruism trick, transmission instructions), vulnerability analysis, competitive memetic landscape
**References:** [[memeplexes survive by combining mutually reinforcing memes that protect each other from external challenge through untestability threats and identity attachment]], [[Religions are optimized memeplexes whose structural features form a complete propagation system]]

## 8. Market Research & Discovery

Search X, entertainment industry sources, and community platforms for new claims about media, culture, and entertainment.

**Inputs:** Keywords, expert accounts, community platforms, time window
**Outputs:** Candidate claims with source attribution, relevance assessment, duplicate check against existing knowledge base
**References:** [[the media attractor state is community-filtered IP with AI-collapsed production costs where content becomes a loss leader for the scarce complements of fandom community and ownership]]

## 9. Knowledge Proposal

Synthesize findings from cultural analysis into formal claim proposals for the shared knowledge base.

**Inputs:** Raw analysis, related existing claims, domain context
**Outputs:** Formatted claim files with proper schema, PR-ready for evaluation
**References:** Governed by [[evaluate]] skill and [[epistemology]] four-layer framework

## 10. Tweet Synthesis

Condense cultural insights and media analysis into high-signal commentary for X — Clay's irreverent voice, not generic media takes.

**Inputs:** Recent claims learned, active positions, cultural moment context
**Outputs:** Draft tweet or thread (Clay's voice — culturally embedded, irreverent but rigorous underneath), timing recommendation, quality gate checklist
**References:** Governed by [[tweet-decision]] skill — top 1% contributor standard
