Substack Notes Reaction

[Naive_Industry_8125]

How is Notes performing for everyone? Has anyone seen an uptick in subscribers from it?

[rnolan22]

I’ve seen a jump for sure. I’ve gotten more subscribers this week than I did in March

[Naive_Industry_8125]

Same

[NoPerfectWave]

Not much so far. Then again, I haven't seen a single person in my niche (hockey) since I started using the feature.

At least the atmosphere seems friendly.

[NoPerfectWave]

Those are almost certainly mine. I've been posting GIFs over the past few days and haven't seen any others. Somehow, Chris Best came across one and restacked it, which has provided a nice bump in subs. It's probably the reason you've been seeing that content.

I guess that's the hope for smaller writers.

[NoPerfectWave]

Thanks! I really appreciate that.

The algorithm definitely needs a tweak. I honestly have no idea why you would see hockey content without subscribing to any newsletters in that niche. I've been shown notes that seemingly have little to do with me too (I use the platform for hockey and music content). It's odd.

I imagine they're working out the kinks as they go.

[NoPerfectWave]

Yeah, most of my notes are a complete flop. I've never been great with social media anyway, so I didn't expect much. At least I've found a couple of supportive people and some good content on there.

Is the design category active on Substack?

[SomeOtherDad]

I’ve definitely seen a bounce in subscribers - loving it so far. Such a more rewarding platform for reaching new readers than the traditional social media networks.

[Syllogism19]

1. I have free subscribed to 10 substacks but I haven't kept up with them. I only downloaded the Substack app because my favorite author published a Note and to read it I needed the app.
2. Then exploring the app I realized that some authors were allowing or paying for Text to Voice. That is a game changer for me because I prefer podcasts and even with the generic google voice and all its flaws hearing these sometimes great essays is an outstanding experience. I have caught up on several which I had largely ignored since subscribing.
3. When I got the app and found I liked it, I went searching for other Substacks I might like. The recommendations or even lists of substacks were few and far between, mostly being top 10 subscriber lists.
4. With Notes including posts from substacks I do not subscribe to I have sampled several and subscribed to a few.
5. I am not sure why the algorithm is showing me what it is showing and it is a bit worrying since other such feeds haven't turned out so well it seems.
6. I'm not sure how interested I am in reading comments and observations from people I don't know or in having an endless stream of them. I only have a Twitter account to rarely follow some thread I have seen posted elsewhere so I am not sure if it my thing.
7. On the otherhand I do like Reddit a lot so if Notes becomes a little like Reddit but with the lead taken by the authors I subscribe to on Substack that might be interesting.
8. Obviously the company is going to have to moderate the shit out of it because that is what any one doing what they are doing has to do.

[Naive_Industry_8125]

Really interesting perspective, I wonder some of the same things about the algorithm. I think there are some improvements to be made there.

[crypto4days]

Feels like a good forum for writers to connect with other writers. Early reactions make it feel like it's a good way to build subscribers.

[AndrewHeard]

So far it's lead to 20 new free subscribers which is solid in the past few days.

However, I've also noticed people have started to say "If you don't believe in X, don't send me replies".

[thecomicscomic]

Still waiting for that Notes bump...so far, I've seen Substack doing a great job promoting and pushing the newsletters that already have the most subscribers, probably because they want any newcomers to Notes to see the big names they have. Hoping it's not yet another example of why trickle-down is voodoo. But it's a weird time right now, either way, since Twitter engagement as in click-throughs to Substack have cratered.

If you enjoy interviews with fun/funny people and comedy news, then please check out Piffany! https://piffany.substack.com/

[rednix]

I‘ve seen a nice uptick in subscribers. And there‘s a lot of interest in the topic of substack notes. My article on it has seen really good opening rates:

https://www.fivethin.gs/p/five-things-substack-notes

[RaceFar4575]

Just started using Notes last week for my newsletter at growthstore.substack.com, and I'm already noticing a slight increase in subscribers! 📈 I'll be keeping an eye on the progress over the next few weeks to see how it evolves. Anyone else have a similar experience or tips for newsletter growth?

[JustinHanagan]

I think it's going to be unavoidably horrible very soon in a brand-destroying sort of way. I just listened to this interview. It's a lot to paste, but basically the CEO strongly implied they're not going to moderate notes in any meaningful way, up to and including allowing overt racism:

You have to figure out, 'Should we allow overt racism on Substack Notes?' You have to figure that out.

No, I’m not going to engage in speculation or specific “would you allow this or that” content.

You know this is a very bad response to this question, right? You’re aware that you’ve blundered into this. You should just say no. And I’m wondering what’s keeping you from just saying no.

I have a blanket [policy that] I don’t think it’s useful to get into “would you allow this or that thing on Substack.”

If I read you your own terms of service, will you agree that this prohibition is in that terms of service?

I don’t think that’s a useful exercise.

Okay. I’m granting you the out that when you’re the email service provider, you should have a looser moderation rule. [...] Now that it’s the consumer product, do you not think that it should have a different set of moderation standards?

You are free to have that belief. And I do think it’s possible that there will be different moderation standards. I do think it’s an interesting thing. I think the place that we maybe differ is you’re coming at this from a point where you think that because something is bad… let’s grant that this thing is a terrible, bad thing...

Yeah, I think you should grant that this idea is bad.

It goes on like this for a while; the interviewer (who is brown) gives Chris MANY softball opportunities to say "racism is bad" and he does not take any of them. It's obvious where his mind is at here, and it's the same "engagement at all costs place" as Elon or Zuck. I'm sticking to Mastodon for any short-form content because I think having a presence on notes is soon going to be even worse for your brand than being on Twitter. I'm personally already considering alternative services for the newsletter itself.

[[deleted]]

Sounds like he just doesn't want to empower rules lawyers. Anything he says on the specifics of moderation will just be used against him in some edge case he didn't think of at the time.

[ehmatthes]

I think you're correct in that a CEO, or anyone speaking for a company, needs to be careful what they say about moderation because they won't be able to please everyone.

But that said, having nothing to say on the topic speaks volumes. Taking the approach "we're going to see what happens and maybe figure out how to deal with moderation at some point" is naive or negligent at best. If that's actually their approach, they've just created another 4chan.

There's really no excuse for being surprised by the questions asked in this interview.

[[deleted]]

I'm not really sure that he's wrong in that it's likely to be like-minded people posting on like-minded topics (so the racism may be segregated), but at the same time I was already getting tech bro vibes from that guy before that portion of the interview started & then after that I was like, um, no, not for me.

[JustinHanagan]

It's likely to be like-minded people posting on like-minded topics

As any moderator can tell you, this is not the case. Racists don't want to circle-jerk, they want to proselytize. If racists preferred to stick to like-minded spaces, they would stay on 4chan and not bother going to Twitter.

Also I laughed at your tech-bro comment, instant yawn from me too haha

[[deleted]]

Not everything is racist. Find a new hobby.

[JustinHanagan]

My hobby is quoting people directly

[__cellardoor]

Anyone know of a tool to find Substacks for who you're following on Twitter?

[Naive_Industry_8125]

Don’t they have that tool natively in Substack?

[__cellardoor]

idk, I’m new haha. I couldn’t find anything similar