Substack Notes: Two Weeks Together (Article)
In which I, Michael P. Marpaung, wrote of my experience with Substack Notes after two weeks. The good and the bad.
Introduction
Today marks exactly two weeks since I’ve first used Substack Notes. Having finally gotten a good handle of this feature, I want to give my thoughts on Notes and my experience with them thus far. I also want to bring into attention what others have said about Notes, both good and bad.
Like a lot of people, I was initially skeptical of Notes. I was on record saying that “it looked like Twitter lite”. I’m sure I was not the only one who thought that way. The only reason that Substack Notes was even a big deal to me at the time was because the Springbok Rocket Man decided to throttle Substack’s presence on Twitter over this.
If anything, I was actually annoyed at Substack for rocking the boat. At the time, I was taking a sabbatical from Twitter until Easter. I planned to promote my stuff on Twitter once I returned. Needless to say, learning about this drama made me upset. Thankfully, it fizzled over. Somewhat.
But I digress. I’m here to talk about Notes, not the Bird App.
Like most people, I decided to make the best of Substack Notes. It was not where I thought Substack should have gone, but I was not about to pass up the opportunity.
The Good
As it turned out, I’m glad that Substack Notes exists. Thanks to it, I was able to connect with people that I otherwise would not have. Furthermore, I was able to bring attention to my works. I’ve gotten people who subscribed to my Substack because they learned that I existed through Notes.
It’s basically a cliché at this point to post your subscriber number chart on Notes, so I won’t do that; I’m still a small fish here anyways so such an action would be bad form for me. But I will give you my comments:
Furthermore, I also found discourse on Notes to be better than Twitter. I am less likely to be angered by someone’s post here than on the Bird App. And that’s a good thing. Whether or not this would last, only time will tell.
But I really hope that the answer is yes. I really do.
The Bad
But not everything is sunshine and rainbows in the Land of Stack. By introducing short form writing, the Substack Team had turned the platform into something much different than what it was originally known for.
As my fellow Substack writer JD Sauvage once said1, old Substack is more like blogger. You write an article, post it, and then people will comment on it. But new Substack is, for lack of a better word, Twitter-lite. With all its dopamine-induced problems.
Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean that Notes is an absolute bad thing. It might be Twitter-lite, but that’s better than regular Twitter. Though I can understand if some people are frustrated by the direction that Substack is currently heading:
I will confess that I am having a problem like Mr. Hellene’s. I’m already the kind of guy who can’t wait to see people’s comments and likes even before the introduction of Notes. Thankfully, God in all His mercy and wisdom had kept me humble. He gave me enough of an audience to know that I’m not just screaming into the void, but not too much that it goes into my head.
Conclusion
I would be lying if I were to say that I did not benefit from Notes. In fact, I enjoyed Notes for what it is. That being said, there are definitely some troubling aspects that I can’t ignore. The feature had no doubt turned what was once a blogging platform into a social media one, at least a hybridized one.
As a social media platform, Notes had thus far avoided the problems often associated with it. But for how long?
I’m writing this to bring attention into the more troubling aspects of Notes that seems to be overlooked because of both the novelty and the “look at my new subscribers” effect. I don’t mean to rain on people’s parade here, but this is something that needs to be brought to the forefront.
Because the last thing we want is for this place to turn into Twitter 2.0.
-Michael P. Marpaung
Couldn’t find the note where he said it, lol
Here's the thing: I also see the death of long-form happening here on Substack. It'll be the same thing we saw on Twitter: You publish a post, share the link, and instead of commenting in-depth on the actual post, you'll get a few pithy reactions on the app.
As with everything, time will tell. My biggest fear, though, is Notes becoming yet another dopamine farm. I've already seen the infestation of all the obnoxious political dorks from Twitter banging on about "HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT THE REPUBLICANS JUST DID?" and stupid stuff like that. It does not bode well.