20 Comments

Wow! I am looking forward to seeing this new Substack feature.

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I think it is being released next week. Having the entire Substack community on will change the experience, I'm sure, but I think they're still setting it up in a way that will maximize the same types of connections I have found so valuable in the Beta. For instance, last night I stayed up contributing to two different conversations--one was with a writer I have been reading for 20 years, where we talked about basketball, and the other was with someone I just discovered on notes, and we talked about free will. It was thrilling!

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Thank you, Spencer.

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I just subscribed to your Substack and saw that you live in Trowbridge. Looking forward to reading about your travels, particularly as I've been doing some genealogical research and found an ancestor of mine (born some time ago now in 1827) from Trowbridge!

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Thank you. That’s interesting you have found an ancestor from Trowbridge. What have you found out about them?

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Not a whole lot, to be honest. The name, Joseph Morris, is somewhat common, so parsing the records has been a bit challenging. I found a listing on the 1841 England census that appears to place him still living in Trowbridge, then a gap until he shows up again in the New York State census in 1855. I'm sure if I dug more I could find the immigration record. At any rate, I did find his grave in Troy, NY. I've not had the chance to travel to England, but hope to plan a trip that includes a stop in Trowbridge (as well as other places in the UK where I've found links to ancestors)!

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Thanks. Do you have the address where he was living?

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My underlying worry is that Twitter is like twitter because it’s full of humans being humans rather than anything twitter specific.

I hope I’m wrong

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I share that worry, though I do think that how the design incentivizes or disincentives aspects of our human wiring is relevant.

Substack and Twitter (in my experience) optimize for different types of relationships. Twitter derives their revenue from ads (or at least did before Twitter Blue). So they optimize for what I think of as infinite & invisible transactional relationships between users. The point, from Twitter's perspective, is to keep you there as long as possible, to serve as many ads as possible. Interactions with other users can also bring out anti-social behavior because it is unclear what other people's motives are.

Substack makes money from paid subscriptions, so they need to optimize to have readers that feel so connected to the writers on the platform that they will pay money to read their work. This triggers what I think of as finite & visible transactional relationships. Paid readers are transacting with writers, but these transactions are clearly visible and the reader can opt out whenever they feel like it. This is a more pro-social arrangement.

I also think that subcultures on the different platforms make a difference. My experience of Twitter was very different depending on which subculture I was interacting with.

I hope that is somewhat clear. I just woke up with this idea of putting digital relationships on this four quadrant grid this morning, so I haven't had time to really distill it to its clearest form.

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I really hope Notes become the social media solution so many of us need. I'm enjoying Post also. I just want to write meaningful stuff and have meaningful conversations.

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Thanks for reading! And yes there is clearly an unmet need for social media that makes us feel more connected and brings shared meaning to our lives. I’m hoping Notes keeps the best parts of the rest of Substack and can be that solution for many of us!

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"I remember saying that I “wasn’t a reply guy” so I probably wouldn’t actually post anything... I would venture to say that, outside of the Substack team, I have now probably posted more on Notes than anyone else in the Beta. Revealed preference smacked me right in the face it seems"

Hahaha! I'm so happy that Notes won you over, Spencer!

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Thanks, Dayne! Y'all are doing a great job with the product and I am very glad your email didn't get lost in my inbox. I am still cringing a bit thinking about my internal narration during the test, but Notes has been a profound and surprising experience thus far.

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Thanks Spencer, and welcome to Substack!

Just shared this article with my community as I think it provides one of the best views of Substack Notes yet.

Very much looking forward to getting involved when it goes live.

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Thanks so much for sharing the article, Martin! Glad you found value in the article!

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