I think we are still in the early days of social networks. We are only just beginning to figure them out. We certainly underestimate how positive and useful they can be, partly from a careless pessimism, and partly because the owners of major social networks seem to lack vision. Despite a few models enjoying success (at least, perpetuation), there seems to be little overt thinking about the nature of social networks and how to improve them.
You have successfully redirected my thinking about social media. There is also an asynchronous aspect to Substack commenting. Today someone liked a comment that I made over a year ago, which felt a little odd--like a long pause between saying something and having the other person respond. I was also reminded that the comments I make don't just disappear as they do when spoken.
Very useful piece Simon, and it certainly reflects my experience here on Substack. I have gotten to know--to befriend, really--a set of people who read my Substack. They comment, we email, and I’ve even had phone conversations with several of them. When I next visit England and France, I intend to lift a glass. That’s a beautiful thing. And also beautiful is that I often run into my “friends” in other neighborhoods, which is to say in the comments section of other ‘Stacks. More and more, I do find that the signal feature of Substack is the conversations.
Insightful stuff Simon! I appreciate your optimism...I've long thought that social networks are what you make it; especially Twitter. A well-curated feed and committment to engage in nuanced, meaningful dialogue has made my experience there profoundly productive while those around me like to pin it as purely toxic. Your vision for the future of socials is exactly the direction we should be moving in if we want to get the most value out of them.
I'm really curious to see how substack's chat works out. I think it has a lot of potential!
I've found that I use a bunch of social media sites, but I use a very small portion of each one.
Instagram is my favorite and the stories and dm feature is the only one i use to really talk to people.
Facebook has actually been amazing for hobby groups. I'm in like 7 woodworking groups and the knowledge sharing and tool market place from people I trust has been invaluable.
Twitter is fun to see what is going on in the world, but I'm honestly worried to overshare on the platform.
Discord is probably my favorite. I have a few private and public programming groups I'm a part of and its been the only one for me to produce actual friendships from people I didn't already know.
Great read, Simon, this definitely helped me figure out some of my own thoughts about Substack a bit better. Similarly to how YouTube is still thriving despite TikTok's recent rise, I am all for longer form content gaining popularity here on Substack. Ironically, they did release Substack Notes as a way to get short-form content on the platform as well, but I think that they way they implement it doesn't get in the way of original content, but might rather even complement it. And though I haven't had a ton of interactions on the platform so far, the few that I have were much more meaningful than any interaction I've had on Instagram or Twitter. I'm curious to see where this will all end up.
Is talking to A.I. going to replace the more or less low quality interactions we have on social media based on Advertising or will something else come along? That is the question.
I think an important part of using social media in this way is having the courage - or lack of inhibition - to just say something, regularly.
I tend to hold myself back on platforms like Twitter and Substack for various reasons (chiefly worry over not having anything novel or interesting to contribute) and I'm learning that this is unhelpful. At worst, you get no responses. At best, perhaps a new friend?
I really like the element of combining public and private interactions which you brought out, and I agree that it will continue to be a defining factor in any newer social network in the coming years.
One area I'm not sure about is how to scale "each Substack go[ing] from being a newsletter to a community". Substacks still seem very individual-focused, and if the purpose of the agora is to be a place where a particular community is to gather, it's a bit odd that it would be centered around the writing of one particular individual or even group of people. I'm struggling to articulate why this is fundamentally different than the old days of blogs with built-in commenting and email lists.
I'm interested in how many different formats social media can take.
Twitter and Substack are certainly my favorite for the reasons you've mentioned but also because they are first and foremost *textually based.*
I've never been able to dive deep into Instagram purely because I don't have enough good photos to warrant posting. IG breeds this odd perfectionism to many people to the point that they create finstas just to post candids and other nonserious or unglamorous photos.
I find that Discord is great at exactly what they originally marketed it as: pre-existing gaming communities that want to talk over voice chat. It's rather difficult to find new discord communities naturally, you have to be invited. Perhaps I'm using it wrong or the wall of the walled garden is too high.
Tumblr has always been an interesting one but I think that has more to do with the actual people using it. It's fairly easy to find new communities, posts are public with public comment and private dm's. I really like their anonymous ask feature, I don't think that's been replicated elsewhere.
Fun to think of other formats and how to strike the balance between public and open vs completely walled off.
You have successfully redirected my thinking about social media. There is also an asynchronous aspect to Substack commenting. Today someone liked a comment that I made over a year ago, which felt a little odd--like a long pause between saying something and having the other person respond. I was also reminded that the comments I make don't just disappear as they do when spoken.
Very useful piece Simon, and it certainly reflects my experience here on Substack. I have gotten to know--to befriend, really--a set of people who read my Substack. They comment, we email, and I’ve even had phone conversations with several of them. When I next visit England and France, I intend to lift a glass. That’s a beautiful thing. And also beautiful is that I often run into my “friends” in other neighborhoods, which is to say in the comments section of other ‘Stacks. More and more, I do find that the signal feature of Substack is the conversations.
Insightful stuff Simon! I appreciate your optimism...I've long thought that social networks are what you make it; especially Twitter. A well-curated feed and committment to engage in nuanced, meaningful dialogue has made my experience there profoundly productive while those around me like to pin it as purely toxic. Your vision for the future of socials is exactly the direction we should be moving in if we want to get the most value out of them.
I'm really curious to see how substack's chat works out. I think it has a lot of potential!
I've found that I use a bunch of social media sites, but I use a very small portion of each one.
Instagram is my favorite and the stories and dm feature is the only one i use to really talk to people.
Facebook has actually been amazing for hobby groups. I'm in like 7 woodworking groups and the knowledge sharing and tool market place from people I trust has been invaluable.
Twitter is fun to see what is going on in the world, but I'm honestly worried to overshare on the platform.
Discord is probably my favorite. I have a few private and public programming groups I'm a part of and its been the only one for me to produce actual friendships from people I didn't already know.
Great read, Simon, this definitely helped me figure out some of my own thoughts about Substack a bit better. Similarly to how YouTube is still thriving despite TikTok's recent rise, I am all for longer form content gaining popularity here on Substack. Ironically, they did release Substack Notes as a way to get short-form content on the platform as well, but I think that they way they implement it doesn't get in the way of original content, but might rather even complement it. And though I haven't had a ton of interactions on the platform so far, the few that I have were much more meaningful than any interaction I've had on Instagram or Twitter. I'm curious to see where this will all end up.
Is talking to A.I. going to replace the more or less low quality interactions we have on social media based on Advertising or will something else come along? That is the question.
Excellent, as always
What a refreshing take! It matches my early experience with Twitter, which was a bit lost since the introduction of the algorithmic timeline.
I think an important part of using social media in this way is having the courage - or lack of inhibition - to just say something, regularly.
I tend to hold myself back on platforms like Twitter and Substack for various reasons (chiefly worry over not having anything novel or interesting to contribute) and I'm learning that this is unhelpful. At worst, you get no responses. At best, perhaps a new friend?
I really like the element of combining public and private interactions which you brought out, and I agree that it will continue to be a defining factor in any newer social network in the coming years.
One area I'm not sure about is how to scale "each Substack go[ing] from being a newsletter to a community". Substacks still seem very individual-focused, and if the purpose of the agora is to be a place where a particular community is to gather, it's a bit odd that it would be centered around the writing of one particular individual or even group of people. I'm struggling to articulate why this is fundamentally different than the old days of blogs with built-in commenting and email lists.
I'm interested in how many different formats social media can take.
Twitter and Substack are certainly my favorite for the reasons you've mentioned but also because they are first and foremost *textually based.*
I've never been able to dive deep into Instagram purely because I don't have enough good photos to warrant posting. IG breeds this odd perfectionism to many people to the point that they create finstas just to post candids and other nonserious or unglamorous photos.
I find that Discord is great at exactly what they originally marketed it as: pre-existing gaming communities that want to talk over voice chat. It's rather difficult to find new discord communities naturally, you have to be invited. Perhaps I'm using it wrong or the wall of the walled garden is too high.
Tumblr has always been an interesting one but I think that has more to do with the actual people using it. It's fairly easy to find new communities, posts are public with public comment and private dm's. I really like their anonymous ask feature, I don't think that's been replicated elsewhere.
Fun to think of other formats and how to strike the balance between public and open vs completely walled off.