Substack: A Better Social Media?
In a world where the dominant forms of social media in X, Instagram and Tiktok all focus on a model of algorithmic shortform content aimed at chasing short bursts of attention before moving on to the next, Substack offers a slower more intentional alternative. Substack can be best described as a middle ground between a blog and a digital newsletter platform. It is built on more depth and focus into topics and a more sustained relationship between readers and writers. It offers a refreshing curated reading room to your inbox instead of the casino of notifications and recommendations that come from other forms of media.
What actually is Substack?
Simply put, Substack is a platform where readers directly subscribe to writers and let them send their work directly to their inbox. Unlike other forms of media where content is controlled and recommended to users by an algorithm, users can trust that they will only be seeing what they previously chose to see and writers can leave the platform any time and take their mailing lists with them.
The Benefits over Traditional Social Media
The primary difference between Substack and traditional social media is in the business models. Apps like TikTok, X, and Instagram use an “attention-extraction model” where the platform makes money from ads. This means that the platforms are motivated to keep you addicted to scrolling for as long as possible and they often do this by showing shocking or aggravating content that causes spikes in dopamine. Substack on the other hand operates on a “value exchange”. They only make money when the readers are paying for subscriptions to a writer. This encourages the platform to push high quality content that will satisfy a reader in the long term and establish long term trust. This also appeals to writers as they can customize their subscription costs. Substack users enjoy feeling like customers again rather than products being sold to advertisers.
Controversial Update
In 2023 Substack introduced “Substack Notes”. This short form feed reminded many users of the format of X and some of them worried that the platform was heading in a direction users thought they escaped from. The feature is a divisive talking point with some people saying it is a good implementation that lets writers find a larger audience within the platform instead of relying on funnelling an audience over from others. Critics say that the feature resembles the parts of X making a “noisy place where people are clamoring for attention” and their feed is becoming an “unfiltered firehose of information”. The defense to these points is again the incentive of gaining subscribers over virality and the way the feed prioritises subscriptions and recommendations of the subscriptions attempts to counter the negatives of the short form format.
Conclusion
In our modern era, individuals must balance a constant need for knowledge with the growing threat of information overload. Platforms like Substack attempt to solve this by letting people streamline their sources to people they trust. This curation does have risks such as forming “echo chambers” where people only consume information that they already agree with. Ultimately, Substack serves as a positive force in driving intentional reading and prompting users to critique their sources of information.
Written by Sean Furniss