I recently moved to Substack for the same reasons you described: getting away from the dopamine den. I also vividly remember the good old days when Myspace worked perfectly as a place to connect with other weird musicians all over the globe. And how it changed.
So I thought Substack might be something like that, and I decided to give it a try. And I think, in part, it really is a very good thing. On the other hand, they apparently started that “Notes” stuff, and I feel exactly like you do: No! That’s exactly what I fled from. The guy who’s constantly pushing his threads about getting tons of paid subscribers by constantly pumping out threads, and it's not about actual content but how everything should look to go viral…
Ah, I prefer quieter corners.
But maybe Substack can be both. I mean, we don’t have to jump into the Notes pit, do we? The format of essays, podcasts, and articles works either way. Finding the niche with kindred spirits.
I’m curious to find out if this could work. And always ready to move on to other places if this one proves to be another failure.
But how could we do better? Where? Where would you go if this ship sinks?
Hey! Thanks for this very thoughtful comment. Yes, I feel 100% understood by what you share, 1000% understand you.
I fled from LinkedIn and Instagram because I was tired of all the attention-seeking, highly engineered, and fake posts. And now Substack Notes turns exactly into this weird mixture of Twitter/LinkedIn.
You are right, we don't, and I also refuse to post on Notes anymore, because I felt really empty after a while. I was like, "Why am I doing this?" There was zero creative expression involved, zero joy. It took me a bit to realise what's happening.
I feel people are overall super tired of this very outdated design of social networks. At least I, who grew up with the rise of the Internet and the early days of social networks, still remember how it can feel. That's Millennials and older. And I know that younger generations are tired of this as well, but they are not aware that it can be different.
I have a very strong feeling we will see a fragmentation of social networks into highly curated (by humans), highly intentional, and deep connection micro-communities.
Hello Gerhard,
I recently moved to Substack for the same reasons you described: getting away from the dopamine den. I also vividly remember the good old days when Myspace worked perfectly as a place to connect with other weird musicians all over the globe. And how it changed.
So I thought Substack might be something like that, and I decided to give it a try. And I think, in part, it really is a very good thing. On the other hand, they apparently started that “Notes” stuff, and I feel exactly like you do: No! That’s exactly what I fled from. The guy who’s constantly pushing his threads about getting tons of paid subscribers by constantly pumping out threads, and it's not about actual content but how everything should look to go viral…
Ah, I prefer quieter corners.
But maybe Substack can be both. I mean, we don’t have to jump into the Notes pit, do we? The format of essays, podcasts, and articles works either way. Finding the niche with kindred spirits.
I’m curious to find out if this could work. And always ready to move on to other places if this one proves to be another failure.
But how could we do better? Where? Where would you go if this ship sinks?
Cordially, D.H.
Hey! Thanks for this very thoughtful comment. Yes, I feel 100% understood by what you share, 1000% understand you.
I fled from LinkedIn and Instagram because I was tired of all the attention-seeking, highly engineered, and fake posts. And now Substack Notes turns exactly into this weird mixture of Twitter/LinkedIn.
You are right, we don't, and I also refuse to post on Notes anymore, because I felt really empty after a while. I was like, "Why am I doing this?" There was zero creative expression involved, zero joy. It took me a bit to realise what's happening.
I feel people are overall super tired of this very outdated design of social networks. At least I, who grew up with the rise of the Internet and the early days of social networks, still remember how it can feel. That's Millennials and older. And I know that younger generations are tired of this as well, but they are not aware that it can be different.
I have a very strong feeling we will see a fragmentation of social networks into highly curated (by humans), highly intentional, and deep connection micro-communities.
Either I will build one, or someone else will.