I’ve been listening to the British drill rappers Pete and Bas. It has me thinking about what’s wrong with written social media and America’s market for ideas.
Hi Frank!! I love this piece, especially: "The problem is our online infrastructure is built to maximize the wrong metric. It’s all built to maximize engagement instead of discovery." When "Discovery" is montetizable, it could happen!
I have found many, many good writers through the comments pages. Just in the last year, I've posted my list of faves in response to a request for faves.
Yeah, you're ALWAYS on it b/c of the fantastic book you wrote 'Realignment'; the best book of political history and foretelling I've come across, so relax! LOL
Too damn bad I ain't an influencer...
But then... I believe that in the degrading of the gatekeepers, 'Community References' (I just made that one up) are going to have an ever increasing impact. Here's how it happens for me:
1. I read a post like this one
2. If I have time, I check the comments. I default to 'Most Recent' if there's over 25 comments, but hey, that's just me
3. If someone makes a comment I like, I clicky-ticky on their profile and check out what they also read. If I find something that appeals to me, I add it to my follow list. For example, I liked Jessica's comment, and checked out her profile to learn that I have NOT been subscribed to Konstantin Kisen's stuff! And I am now.
Now look- I'm a senior citizen who is just now trying to figure out Instagram b/c TikTok has gotten nuked on my phone for some reason... in other words, I dunno what a 'Restack' is on this platform. BFD; I really don't care too much b/c I have only so much bandwidth, y'know?
Back in the day (I'm talking 80's/90's) I USED to subscribe to a newspaper, US News, Newsweek, Time, the Economist and probably a couple of others. Today? Today I pay NOTHING to those clowns. Nothing. I still skim & read the NYT when I want to, using archive.ph to grab articles; the others...I'm simply not all that interested.
I don't think Substack will be the driving force for massive enterprises that Time/Life was, or the NYT is still. BUT...
I think people like you will be able to pick up a few grand a month at worst, and a zillion a month like Bari Weiss (I read TFP daily AND I pay for it annually), despite not being in her demo target market.
Early next year, when my paid subscription to Jimmy Dore expires (I've had it w/his apologism for terrorism) I'll be tossing a few bucks to paying you. HOWEVER...
I'll then EXPECT content on a regular basis... I cancelled Michael Tracey for that reason- he put up less than 1 article a month and I had paid him $50.00 for the year.
IDK what your FT job is, man (you're a prof somewhere I think?); but this thing could become a good side gig that will net you $40-100K/year if you play it right. God knows you have the requirements:
- a breadth of knowledge and experience that informs your writing much, much more than Taylor Lorenz for example
- aaand a great writing style. It's elegant and pithy; Glenn Greenwald could take a cue from you; he has a tendency to run off at the keyboard whereas TayTay Lorenz actually is a better crafter.
You got game in this department, bro. Keep at it. Having said that, you'll need to make a commitment to production though to stay reliable.
Having said that, I love your work. (Sure, you only have 9 comments so far, but keep at it)
TBH Frank, nothing. Like I said, I have a technique that works for me & I'm fine w/it.
Look, you're about my kids' age (40-ishly)... you rugrats have vague memories of NOT being online, but when my eldest (she's 46) went off to college, she was REQUIRED to own a computer (late 90's- gradded in '01). It was the first year her school had instituted that policy.
My point is that while my fellow old farts think I'm adept at these contraptions, it's only b/c they're not as anal retentive as I am insofar as working with these things.
Yeah, yeah...watching me fiddle and fluster w/ my STATE OF THE ART Pixel 8 makes the kiddies laff, I get by okay-- I can even use the Maps App dude!
So, a longwinded way that would make Greenwald proud to say... I'm good. Sorry.
What are your ideas, genius? I'm genuinely interested.
I’m an old fart like you and I also enjoy Frank’s writing but I’m in agreement with him as to possible discovery. I’m new to Substack and would really like an easy way to find new writers and interesting ideas. Maybe I’m too stuck in the past where I could page through a newspaper and find interesting columnists and stories I didn’t even know I was looking for.
Yeah, I have to admit that the Substack reader interface…
SUCKS
I’m a fairly bright guy, despite being a late-Boomer, and yet I find the interface of Substack annoying as hell. I sign in to see what my cadre of contributors are up to, and it’s such a pain. And, of COURSE no instructions or help section. It could be so, so much better.
OK, now that’s off my chest, to your point of finding new contributors, I simply to to the profile of a commenter here and check who or what THEY follow. It works out ‘ok’. Not great, not even OK, but ‘ok’.
What would you recommend Substack do differently to help discovery of (us) lesser-known writers? Not a rhetorical question, I'd like to hear your thoughts.
Recommendations are already a feature (as in we recommend each others' newsletters); did you mean the Substack team would itself make recommendations? That's not a bad thought. I'm remembering the "iTunes Indie Samplers" back in the mid-'00s, where (when normally music was purchased) Apple would give you free collections of lesser-known indie artists that exposed you to them.
I don't see how this can adressed by "features" in Substack, that is, by engineering. Writers who respect each other must find ways to organize on Substack (or other platforms) to create the equivalent of literary agency, book reviewers, and editorial guidance. These participants cooperate to look out for new voices of high quality, share their discoveries with each other, and then use the reputation of the group to publicize whatever passes muster with a quorum. This is where Notes becomes invaluable, because it's where the conversational aspect of the platform can function to exchange and then promote the undiscovered talents or the vital new ideas.
In particular ways to find/discover content that is new and interesting. Perhaps this might be a good use for a dedicated Substack AI? The downside would be letting it keep track of what we read so it could learn to recognize what we might find interesting from new or undiscovered authors.
I think the mechanisms in place allow for organic sharing and promoting fairly well once content is discovered.
I’m with you on discoverability but I’m not a big fan of any algorithmic feeds these days. I don’t think giving something control of what it thrones I want to see is going to actually give me what I want to see I prefer transparency and control. Give me an open list I can browse of what other people I trust said is good. Let me decide
Hi Frank!! I love this piece, especially: "The problem is our online infrastructure is built to maximize the wrong metric. It’s all built to maximize engagement instead of discovery." When "Discovery" is montetizable, it could happen!
Thank you, Jessica!
𝕎𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕊𝕦𝕓𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝕚𝕤𝕟’𝕥, 𝕙𝕠𝕨𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣, 𝕚𝕤 𝕒𝕟 𝕖𝕟𝕘𝕚𝕟𝕖 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪.
Wrongo, Benediction Breath! (Catholic humor...)
I have found many, many good writers through the comments pages. Just in the last year, I've posted my list of faves in response to a request for faves.
Yeah, you're ALWAYS on it b/c of the fantastic book you wrote 'Realignment'; the best book of political history and foretelling I've come across, so relax! LOL
Too damn bad I ain't an influencer...
But then... I believe that in the degrading of the gatekeepers, 'Community References' (I just made that one up) are going to have an ever increasing impact. Here's how it happens for me:
1. I read a post like this one
2. If I have time, I check the comments. I default to 'Most Recent' if there's over 25 comments, but hey, that's just me
3. If someone makes a comment I like, I clicky-ticky on their profile and check out what they also read. If I find something that appeals to me, I add it to my follow list. For example, I liked Jessica's comment, and checked out her profile to learn that I have NOT been subscribed to Konstantin Kisen's stuff! And I am now.
Now look- I'm a senior citizen who is just now trying to figure out Instagram b/c TikTok has gotten nuked on my phone for some reason... in other words, I dunno what a 'Restack' is on this platform. BFD; I really don't care too much b/c I have only so much bandwidth, y'know?
Back in the day (I'm talking 80's/90's) I USED to subscribe to a newspaper, US News, Newsweek, Time, the Economist and probably a couple of others. Today? Today I pay NOTHING to those clowns. Nothing. I still skim & read the NYT when I want to, using archive.ph to grab articles; the others...I'm simply not all that interested.
I don't think Substack will be the driving force for massive enterprises that Time/Life was, or the NYT is still. BUT...
I think people like you will be able to pick up a few grand a month at worst, and a zillion a month like Bari Weiss (I read TFP daily AND I pay for it annually), despite not being in her demo target market.
Early next year, when my paid subscription to Jimmy Dore expires (I've had it w/his apologism for terrorism) I'll be tossing a few bucks to paying you. HOWEVER...
I'll then EXPECT content on a regular basis... I cancelled Michael Tracey for that reason- he put up less than 1 article a month and I had paid him $50.00 for the year.
IDK what your FT job is, man (you're a prof somewhere I think?); but this thing could become a good side gig that will net you $40-100K/year if you play it right. God knows you have the requirements:
- a breadth of knowledge and experience that informs your writing much, much more than Taylor Lorenz for example
- aaand a great writing style. It's elegant and pithy; Glenn Greenwald could take a cue from you; he has a tendency to run off at the keyboard whereas TayTay Lorenz actually is a better crafter.
You got game in this department, bro. Keep at it. Having said that, you'll need to make a commitment to production though to stay reliable.
Having said that, I love your work. (Sure, you only have 9 comments so far, but keep at it)
Thanks, Jim! Tell me, if you were going to add features to Substack help discovering great content, what would you want added?
TBH Frank, nothing. Like I said, I have a technique that works for me & I'm fine w/it.
Look, you're about my kids' age (40-ishly)... you rugrats have vague memories of NOT being online, but when my eldest (she's 46) went off to college, she was REQUIRED to own a computer (late 90's- gradded in '01). It was the first year her school had instituted that policy.
My point is that while my fellow old farts think I'm adept at these contraptions, it's only b/c they're not as anal retentive as I am insofar as working with these things.
Yeah, yeah...watching me fiddle and fluster w/ my STATE OF THE ART Pixel 8 makes the kiddies laff, I get by okay-- I can even use the Maps App dude!
So, a longwinded way that would make Greenwald proud to say... I'm good. Sorry.
What are your ideas, genius? I'm genuinely interested.
Hey Jim
I’m an old fart like you and I also enjoy Frank’s writing but I’m in agreement with him as to possible discovery. I’m new to Substack and would really like an easy way to find new writers and interesting ideas. Maybe I’m too stuck in the past where I could page through a newspaper and find interesting columnists and stories I didn’t even know I was looking for.
Yeah, I have to admit that the Substack reader interface…
SUCKS
I’m a fairly bright guy, despite being a late-Boomer, and yet I find the interface of Substack annoying as hell. I sign in to see what my cadre of contributors are up to, and it’s such a pain. And, of COURSE no instructions or help section. It could be so, so much better.
OK, now that’s off my chest, to your point of finding new contributors, I simply to to the profile of a commenter here and check who or what THEY follow. It works out ‘ok’. Not great, not even OK, but ‘ok’.
But TBH, my bandwidth’s pretty full already…
A delightful take on improving our exposure to discovery!
What would you recommend Substack do differently to help discovery of (us) lesser-known writers? Not a rhetorical question, I'd like to hear your thoughts.
I have some ideas but I genuinely want to hear other people’s ideas for feature. But here is a few things I might do:
Leaderboards
Topic collections
Recommendations
Recommendations are already a feature (as in we recommend each others' newsletters); did you mean the Substack team would itself make recommendations? That's not a bad thought. I'm remembering the "iTunes Indie Samplers" back in the mid-'00s, where (when normally music was purchased) Apple would give you free collections of lesser-known indie artists that exposed you to them.
I don't see how this can adressed by "features" in Substack, that is, by engineering. Writers who respect each other must find ways to organize on Substack (or other platforms) to create the equivalent of literary agency, book reviewers, and editorial guidance. These participants cooperate to look out for new voices of high quality, share their discoveries with each other, and then use the reputation of the group to publicize whatever passes muster with a quorum. This is where Notes becomes invaluable, because it's where the conversational aspect of the platform can function to exchange and then promote the undiscovered talents or the vital new ideas.
A good start might be Substack adding some of the suggested functionality.
Which ones do you want?
In particular ways to find/discover content that is new and interesting. Perhaps this might be a good use for a dedicated Substack AI? The downside would be letting it keep track of what we read so it could learn to recognize what we might find interesting from new or undiscovered authors.
I think the mechanisms in place allow for organic sharing and promoting fairly well once content is discovered.
I’m with you on discoverability but I’m not a big fan of any algorithmic feeds these days. I don’t think giving something control of what it thrones I want to see is going to actually give me what I want to see I prefer transparency and control. Give me an open list I can browse of what other people I trust said is good. Let me decide
That sounds like a variation of the "Restack" function. Perhaps adding some version of a searchable hashtag to create lists?