The reason I read Honest Broker on Substack is the long form writing. The reason I am NOT on Twitter or Facebook, aside from those platforms' inherent untrustworthy content (yes, I hate that word too, Ted) is their fueling of the attention deficit generation. Please say you'll continue primarily in the original Substack! I have no interest in bite-sized topics or cat photos.
I'm a fellow Substacker (PortlandDissent) and my initial response is--who the hell wants to emulate Twitter. Which is one of the most odious developments in human communication history.
Jeez--just what the world needs: shorter stuff!!!
I am baffled why the owners of Substack--and God bless 'em--would want to tinker around with a whole new batch of algorithms when the basic Substack software is far, far from perfected. (Substack's graphics and typography are notoriously limited.)
As for Notes...it will fall victim to the inevitable dilemma of the common. Twitter is like an open-air insane asylum full of creeps working out their neuroses (I know; I live in PDX). The length of the typical Substack post is the secret-sauce that keeps the morons from flooding the zone.
Been using Notes since it launched earlier today - fairly convinced this could be a powerful tool to connect writers to make their work even more discoverable. I am interested to see how this will influence my continued use of Twitter.
I'm in. I'm not sure what I'll do with notes, but its here, and we can find out. It's great to not have some of the limitations of Twitter, like the number of characters, as a writer, brevity is not my strongest point and having a limit on characters has helped me at times to be succinct.
I appreciate your work on Substack. I'm looking forward to the Notes feature and hope it will help with an issue I have with your newsletter. As a non-native English speaker, I find it challenging to keep up with the frequent publication schedule of new articles, which are often longer for me to read compared to native English speakers. With my other commitments such as following other newsletters, my full-time job, family, and household responsibilities, I often feel overwhelmed. I was wondering if there could be an option to read a brief summary or introduction of new articles in 3-5 minutes, so that I can decide if I want to read them in depth or skip them. I hope the Notes feature can address this for me.
How will Notes be from a privacy pov. Will they be aggregating and selling my preferences? Will they be curating my experience and turn my feed into an echo chamber?
Thanks Ted. I'm gonna give Notes a try. I admire what Substack the company and platform have achieved thus far, and it seems to be hitting its stride just as twitter is losing its own plot.
Question for anyone getting up to speed on Notes: I don't see a way to limit the Notes feed to a subset of substackers except by Subscribing to those people--but that also subscribes me to their newsletters (correct?). I don't want all that many newsletters, just a select few. Whereas I'd like see the latest Notes from many of those people whose newsletters I don't necessarily want right now. Is that feature place and I just don't see it?
Here's hoping you will no longer ignore classical music and that you will welcome photos of dogs (since we already have lots of cat photos on whyevolutionistrue).
Thank you so much for sharing this info. I loved Twitter and hated to see it go downhill. I just couldn't get excited about any of the apps that tried to take its place. Maybe this is the one.
The reason I read Honest Broker on Substack is the long form writing. The reason I am NOT on Twitter or Facebook, aside from those platforms' inherent untrustworthy content (yes, I hate that word too, Ted) is their fueling of the attention deficit generation. Please say you'll continue primarily in the original Substack! I have no interest in bite-sized topics or cat photos.
I'm a fellow Substacker (PortlandDissent) and my initial response is--who the hell wants to emulate Twitter. Which is one of the most odious developments in human communication history.
Jeez--just what the world needs: shorter stuff!!!
I am baffled why the owners of Substack--and God bless 'em--would want to tinker around with a whole new batch of algorithms when the basic Substack software is far, far from perfected. (Substack's graphics and typography are notoriously limited.)
As for Notes...it will fall victim to the inevitable dilemma of the common. Twitter is like an open-air insane asylum full of creeps working out their neuroses (I know; I live in PDX). The length of the typical Substack post is the secret-sauce that keeps the morons from flooding the zone.
This will not end well.
From this day forward I will exclusively refer to this place as Pub-Snack. I am partial to a pub snack. So thanks for that, Ted.
Been using Notes since it launched earlier today - fairly convinced this could be a powerful tool to connect writers to make their work even more discoverable. I am interested to see how this will influence my continued use of Twitter.
I'm in. I'm not sure what I'll do with notes, but its here, and we can find out. It's great to not have some of the limitations of Twitter, like the number of characters, as a writer, brevity is not my strongest point and having a limit on characters has helped me at times to be succinct.
Dear Ted,
I appreciate your work on Substack. I'm looking forward to the Notes feature and hope it will help with an issue I have with your newsletter. As a non-native English speaker, I find it challenging to keep up with the frequent publication schedule of new articles, which are often longer for me to read compared to native English speakers. With my other commitments such as following other newsletters, my full-time job, family, and household responsibilities, I often feel overwhelmed. I was wondering if there could be an option to read a brief summary or introduction of new articles in 3-5 minutes, so that I can decide if I want to read them in depth or skip them. I hope the Notes feature can address this for me.
All the best!
How will Notes be from a privacy pov. Will they be aggregating and selling my preferences? Will they be curating my experience and turn my feed into an echo chamber?
I agree, and as a poet and songwriter I see a possibility for a new culture in this! Very exciting!
Tēnā koe, Ted Gioia...another home run! You have inspired me to post. Thank you!
Thanks Ted. I'm gonna give Notes a try. I admire what Substack the company and platform have achieved thus far, and it seems to be hitting its stride just as twitter is losing its own plot.
Question for anyone getting up to speed on Notes: I don't see a way to limit the Notes feed to a subset of substackers except by Subscribing to those people--but that also subscribes me to their newsletters (correct?). I don't want all that many newsletters, just a select few. Whereas I'd like see the latest Notes from many of those people whose newsletters I don't necessarily want right now. Is that feature place and I just don't see it?
Here's hoping you will no longer ignore classical music and that you will welcome photos of dogs (since we already have lots of cat photos on whyevolutionistrue).
Social media on Substack? Ugh. My thoughts:
https://sassone.wordpress.com/2023/04/11/substack-notes-looks-great-im-never-using-it/
Hey: If Twitter is annoyed then we’re doing something right. Twitter is a bin of it obnoxious trash. The real creators are here.
Why do you feel the need to return to Twitter ? I can already hear your answer, so no need to explain.
As far as this need to follow (Notes) - don't need it so not even gonna bother.
Really liking what having you on notes promises . looking forward to it 🤠
Thank you so much for sharing this info. I loved Twitter and hated to see it go downhill. I just couldn't get excited about any of the apps that tried to take its place. Maybe this is the one.