There is no denying it, a big wind coming down from the north, blowing away the social media competition, and Iām here for it!
The news of Elon Muskās Twitter removing the ability to have a Substack link anywhere on the platform proves a couple things to me (and hopefully to you as well):
Substack, while still very much in its infancy having only been in existence for going on 6 years, is considered a formidable foe to the likes of Twitter (or you could argue, one very easily agitated man).
Social media platforms and how we used them is coming to and end.
I predict that if behemoths like Elon Muskās Twitter and Mark Zuckerbergās Facebook and Instagram donāt wise up and put users first they will go the way of MySpace within the next 5-10 years. Mark my words.
I left EMāa Twitter on April 1st, removing it from all my devices, forced to find, what I now consider to be, better substitutions for what I used to get from the doom scroller. More on what thatās been like and how you can do it to, is coming soon. But I mention this here because if not for n article from the team at Substack I would never have known about the drama coming down from EMT (it takes a long time to type Elon Muskās Twitter). The Substack team mentions how well itās doing (not really news to me), the coming soon Notes feature (what many are surmising is the reason for the EMT retaliation), and this:
The Substack model is thriving. The proof is that the imitations are failing and the incumbents are resisting.
For example, today Twitter started blocking links to Substack.
If you havenāt read it already, I think you should.
And because news travels at the speed of light, especially when it involves the latest EMT antics, the following ānewsā outlets are also reporting on it.
The New York Times - Twitter Takes Aim at Posts That Link to Its Rival Substack
Elon Muskās company made the norm-shattering move two days after the publishing start-up Substack unveiled a Twitter-like service.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/technology/twitter-substack-elon-musk.html
The Verge - Twitter is now marking Substack links as unsafe
Twitterās escalation against Substack reaches a new level.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/7/23674936/twitter-marking-substack-links-unsafe
NBC News - Twitter restricts users from liking or retweeting posts that link to Substack
Substack's founders said they were ādisappointed that Twitter has chosen to restrict writersā ability to share their work.ā
I can think of no better time to jump ship on Twitter (and the others) and go where the advertisers are not welcome and the timeline will (fingers crossed) only be of the best quality content that we want to see and not what the platform wants us to see. But, the more Substack becomes the replacement place for all of us who hate what Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have become, the more I worry they will eventually become the problem.
I guess weāll just cross that bridge if/when we get to it. For now, the fish are jumping and the cotton is high, because people who had never heard about Substack are now learning of its existence and by Twitter making it this weekās āEnemy #1ā itās going to bring new readers, writers, and who knows, maybe potential paying customers to those newsletters they like.
So, if you havenāt been writing your fiction or non-fiction in a while, thereās never been a better time than RIGHT NOW to get started! Write your little hearts out everyone, because who knows how long this wave of newcomers will last. Letās show the world and the EMTās of the world what freedom from constraints looks like and how powerful it can truly be.
If youāll excuse me, Iāve got some fiction writing to doā¦
And if youāre here because of what you heard about EMTās anti-Substack position, feel free to subscribe to my awesome newsletter and stick it to the man!
The whole affair reeks of insecurity. If youāre confident in your model, then you donāt worry about others, you just watch andā¦ take note. š¤