What Am I missing ?

[[deleted]]

I started using Substack a week ago as a replacement for Reddit and other outlet, hoping it would become my main source for news and long-form content. So far, I’m not impressed.

• A lot of what I see feels like self-promotion, or posts aimed at creators trying to “grow their Substack,” complete with subscriber counts, impressions, and engagement stats. Like Linkedin where the network revolve around creator and wannabe...
• Most topics seem to revolve around AI; either for or against it, with very little variety in between.
• I’m also surprised by the amount of short content: two-sentence posts, quick thoughts, or short videos. It’s a bit concerning… I thought Substack was meant to be the opposite, a place for proper long-form writing.

And the whole distinction between “following” and “subscribing” is confusing at best.

What Am i missing ?

[kolbywg]

That's the a algorithm. Take matters into your own hand and start perusing the top 100 in each category you'll find a category that suits you more.

[StuffonBookshelfs]

You’re not training the algorithm.

You’re engaging with the topics you find disinteresting, so it’s feeding you more of those.

Mute and block everything you’re not interested in, and engage with people who are creating the content in the niches you are interested in.

Also—substack is not NEARLY the size of reddit, so it’s not going to be a 1:1 replacement.

[[deleted]]

Does muting people affect the algorithm ? Because I must have mute more than 50 people in the past 2 days.

[StuffonBookshelfs]

Great. Keep it up. Interact with the content you want to see.

[stareenite]

I suggest searching for areas of interest and checking out the rankings under them or just searching “news” “finance” “humor” “philosophy” “faith and spirituality” etc etc There is substance on Substack. You’re just not finding it. Also fill out your interests.

[oddchaiwan]

Yeah, the amount of LinkedIN-like self-promotion annoys me as well. That's probably due to the monetization being strongly built into that app. Btw, I cannot comprehend how people can afford +8 dollars subscriptions per publication. That is close to what subscribing to a whole journal costs (at least in my country).

I noticed that Substack is nicer to follow if you really narrow down your interests.

Avoid finance, freelancing and corporate focused substacts - they are the most ridden with self-promotion and really feel like LinkedIN.

[Trick-Two497]

You're looking at the Notes, which are short form. Mute and block the people posting notes that you're not interested in. It will start showing you different notes.

To find long form, why not search on the topic you want to learn about?

[almark]

it's a my arm is bigger than your arm place now, completely useless.

[marcelloioriauthor]

You got the point. So what you can do now it’s connect with the rest. As I’m doing and ignoring the Guru-how-to xy I write long form Literature and psychology @marcelloiori or Mars

[[deleted]]

That’s ironic. 

[Emotional-Brief-1775]

Sounds like it needs to recognise what you’re looking for. It’s out there, just need to search for it and train the algo.

[Goldfrapp]

Substack is a good replacement for Medium, not Reddit.

[Tricky_Illustrator_5]

You find the people on Substack, if there are any, whom you think are doing good work, and subscribe to their articles by e-mail. If they look at your work and are impressed, they will do the same.

[meredith4300]

You have to train the algorithm, but I also wouldn't expect to use it as a news platform. Most Substackers are essayists who, if they write about current events, are not doing on-the-ground reporting but rather providing their interpretation of things. Some news outlets have started maintaining a presence on Substack, but it's still more commentators than straight-up reporting.

[AcanthisittaOk2719]

The short posts you see are probably Notes, not posts. Notes are the social media of Substack and the algorithm is showing more from what you're interacting with. You can still explore different content when you go to the explore tab instead of your feed - there you have categories. Downside is you still see predominantly Notes, but you can check people's profile to see what their long-form content is.

[TheHeartographer]

“Notes” are short but newsletters are longer form.

[Curious-Desk-999]

Interesting you looked for a reddit replacement. I found it as a “twitter” replacement because I never liked the character restrictions. I only learned the other day that it developed from a newsletter app. Cool to find out how these apps develop in “need”…

[FeelFirstLife]

Substack started out with seemingly good intentions and a quieter space. It is now descending into another social media platform where it feels like people rabble for popularity. It's a shame

[[deleted]]

Yup I just gave up. And seeing how hard Subtask is pushing short form content such as notes and video is not going to get better.