If, by chance, you haven’t heard…
A few weeks ago, Substack launched Notes, which is clearly designed as an alternative to Twitter for Substackers.
Guys it’s great.
I’ve never been much into Twitter. For a while, I followed a bunch of smart people, but ultimately, just like every other social media feed I’ve ever experienced, the psychological cost of using the thing outweighed whatever benefit I was deriving. I more or less abandoned Twitter even before Elon bought it and made it cool to abandon Twitter.
Notes is really new. It’s impossible to say for sure whether it will stay as great as it is now, or if it will succumb to any number of horrible things that can happen to great new places on the Internet. But…
I’m optimistic. Here’s why
Every major social media platform up to this point has followed the Facebook / Twitter model — scale fast, sell ads. This is what basically created the attention economy, and shaped all the algorithms to both feed and feed on outrage.
Since Substack’s revenue model is completely independent of advertising, its social platform can’t help but be fundamentally different at its roots.
Whether or not this manages to produce something that is sustainably high value remains to be seen.
But so far so good.
PS You really should be using the app now
Not that you can’t just go to substack.com/notes, but the app is really good. I’m using it so often my family thinks I don’t love them anymore.
If you’re in the app, Notes looks like this:
As a subscriber to Dispatches, you’ll see everything I post, and then you can post stuff too! Because it turns out that’s how social media works!
Here’s some boilerplate language Substack suggested I include:
I hope this becomes a space where every reader of Dispatches from Inner Space can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things we're reading on Substack and beyond.
The thing is, I really do hope that. Very much.
So….
I’m optimistic too! Great read - wholeheartedly agree. Notes feels a bit slower, more intelligent, substantial & real than other social spaces I’ve been in. I’m also loving how it helps us connect & find new publications.
Great, now I get to learn Twitter AND notes