Substack isn't a social network. It's better.
Maybe the decline and fall of Twitter is an opportunity to move beyond social networking altogether.
Everybody knows that Substack is a newsletter platform.
But Substack is many other things as well. In fact, Substack does audio, video, news feeds and social interaction. You could live in Substack like some people live in Facebook or Twitter, and remain very well connected and very well informed.
But unlike social networks, Substack keeps you focused on your creative work instead of distracting you with acrimonious political bickering, endless negativity and cat photos.
What is Substack, anyway?
Substack is a blogging platform
When you publish a newsletter on Substack, the system also posts a version of that article on their website and in their mobile app. The version that isn’t mailed is indistinguishable from a blog post — It IS a blog post. In fact, sending by email is optional. A blogger with no interest in publishing an email newsletter could simply use Substack as a free blogging platform. And for readers, you could read Substack publications as you would blogs, enjoying all the content without getting any email at all.
Substack is an RSS feed reader
That’s right! This is something that neither Twitter nor Mastodon can do. Plug in all the RSS feeds you like, and those appear in order with the latest on top of your Substack Inbox, right along with your Substack subscriptions. I have a ton of news sites, including breaking news. (Find great RSS feeds for news on the Media Gazer site. Just click on “RSS” for the source of your choice, then copy the URL from the browser and paste into Substack (Find the “add RSS feed” option on the options menu on the bottom left of your Inbox). Or, you can find the RSS link on your favorite blog or news site.)
Substack is a podcast consumption platform
Publishers can add podcasts directly to their newsletters. They can even publish podcasts exclusively. Podcasts show up in your inbox like any other content, and you can find podcasts to subscribe to in the Podcasts category. On the app, clicking on a podcast episode brings up an interface like any other podcast app, with the ability to speed up the audio, skip ahead or go back — all the basic podcast trimmings.
Substack is a podcast publishing platform
In the Substack Writer Dashboard, one of the four options is “new episode.” Click that button and you’re confronted with two buttons — one to add an existing podcast episode (a link to the audio) and the other to create a podcast. On that second button, you’re given all the fields given on other podcast publishing platforms, including uploading artwork, podcast name, categorization and others. And so a podcaster can podcast entirely from Substack, and have it syndicated across all the usual podcast directories.
Substack is a video publishing platform
The fourth button in the Writer Dashboard goes to a page that functions like a minimalist YouTube, where you can either record a video directly, or upload one already created. Then you can add a title and other information and publish it like on YouTube.
Substack is a… social network?
Substack has recently added a host of features and resources to convince Twitter quitters to move to Substack and use it as a social network. They even have a content category showing all the people on Substack that you follow on Twitter. (One subtle way Substack is attracting disaffected Twitter refugees is that if you’re verified on Twitter, your verification badge shows up on your Substack profile — then stays there after Elon Musk ends your verification on Twitter for non-payment.)
Social media enthusiasts can get people recommendations from Substack, and also explore a range of content categories that can lead to subscriptions (if you don’t pay, you’re essentially a social media follower).
The company recently rolled out Substack Chat, which lets you sent short messages to your subscribers for brainstorming, crowdsourcing or just starting conversations. Chat is available only on the mobile app.
Substack also last week rolled out mentions (where you use the @ symbol to link to other Substack writers or publications) and also cross posting, where you share another writer’s post with your audience, along with your optional commentary — essentially equivalent to a re-tweet. (As an example of the "Mentions" feature, if you want to follow the destruction of Twitter by Elon Musk, you’ll definitely want to subscribe to
.)Twitter refugees looking for a new social home may balk at Substack, believing that they have to be a long-form author or journalist. But in fact you can sign up and never publish anything. There are no requirements for posting content. And there’s no requirement for paying writers. Anyone can subscribe free to thousands of authors without ever paying a dime.
And like any good social network, Substack makes it very clear that content creators on the platform own their work.
The truth is that for average Twitter users, Substack is not a good replacement. For engineers, software developers and technology fans, as well as anyone who just wants to read and tweet short takes and follow the occasional link, Mastodon is definitely the best replacement for Twitter. (Follow me on Mastodon, if you haven’t already.) Like Twitter, Mastodon is a microblogging platform. It has a 500-character limit on posts. It doesn’t support RSS. And it doesn’t support podcast publishing, video publishing or long-form, multimedia posts. And it won’t send posts via email.
For content creators, substack offers you something that is much better than a social network.
Here’s the trouble with Twitter and Mastodon. Using these infinity pool social networks distracts you from both your work and your audience. It feels like work, but you’re really just giving your precious time away for free to Elon Musk or the Mastodon hive mind.
If you’re a professional writer like me, you know exactly what I’m talking about. When you try to write, you always feel the pull of Stuff Happening Out There Somewhere — the FOMO on breaking news, hot takes and the zeitgeist of the moment. On Twitter, writers waste hours per day bickering over politics, following threads down irrelevant rabbit holes.
By dropping social networks altogether and spending that time on Substack — following news via RSS, subscribing to, and interacting with, hundreds of brilliant writers and creators, interacting with your fans in real time using Substack Chat, blogging like a maniac and — why not? — sending the occasional newsletter, you can get all those social media itches scratched without FOMO while never taking your attention away from your work, your audience and your mission in life.
Social media pulls you away from succeeding as a writer. Substack pulls you into success as a writer. And, all the while, giving you realtime news updates and constant engagement with your audience.
But Substack needs one more feature to really drive this idea home: Give us one auto-updating stream that shows everything in reverse-chronological order — subscription posts, RSS posts, replies to our comments, chats, mentions and cross posts. Substack users could have this stream open on our desktops all day, every day. And with a stream like that, we could abandon social networks forever without missing a thing.
Substack isn’t a replacement for any particular social network. It’s a replacement for social networking itself.
It’s time to stop adding more social media distractions and ask ourselves: Wouldn’t we be better off without social media?
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So good
Great informational on Substack. Thank you.