About

Substack Notes is a feature added to the blogging platform Substack that allows users to post shorter snippets of content and like, share or reply to content posted by other users. It was brought onto Substack's site in April 2023, a timing which led many to wonder if the feature (which looks similar to Twitter) was intended to replace or compete with Twitter, particularly after the platform's Substack ban controversy around the same time.

History

On April 5th, 2023, Substack announced that it would produce a new feature called Notes (mockup example shown below). The idea was to create "a way for writing, ideas, and discussion to travel through the Substack network." Already, Substack had developed a platform of blogs and newsletters, some of them highly popular and profitable. Notes promised to add a new social and recommendation component.^[1]

Shortly afterward, Twitter stopped hosting Substsack links on the platform. Many interpreted this as a response to possible competition from Substack. Shortly after, Substack itself produced a series of blog posts advocating for "a seismic shift in the media economy" and a "writer- and reader-first model."^[2]

On April 11th, 2023, the Notes platform officially launched.^[3] Many early posts focused on the platform itself, and the general philosophy around it. For example, Substack co-founder Hamish MacKenzie situated Notes inside of a vision for a new kind of social internet in an April 16th Note, which received 22 likes in roughly four hours (seen below).^[4]

Features

The Notes platform is composed of a Home feed, which features Notes from people a user doesn't follow, and a Subscribed feed, which shows Notes from publications and users they do follow. The interface is simple and relatively uncluttered. An individual Note can include text, quotations and image embeds.

Users can like, "ReStack" or reply to Notes, similar to Twitter. An example of a Note (shown below) posted by journalist Taylor Lorenz shows the functionality on the user side.

The addition of Notes is a major change to Substack's business model, which was previously centered around producing software for writers to use, but with Notes turned towards producing a network for consumers and writers.^[6]

Related Memes

Twitter Substack Ban

Twitter Substack Ban also known as Elon Musk's Twitter vs. Substack Notes Controversy, refers to Twitter's censorship of tweets that link to the subscription newsletter platform Substack. Substack announced its short-form "Notes" feature in early April 2023, which many took to be a direct competitor to Twitter. Twitter then retaliated by blocking Twitter embeds on Substack posts and subsequently throttling the ability to share Substack links on Twitter itself. The events also led to handpicked Twitter Files journalist Matt Taibbi announcing his departure from Twitter in favor of his platform on Substack. The censorship block against interacting with Substack links was eventually lifted on April 8th, however, searches for the term "Substack" began redirecting to the word "newsletter" instead. Centering prominently around Elon Musk's leadership at Twitter, the early April 2023 event sparked backlash online as the controversy became widely discussed and covered in the media.

Search Interest

External References