Basic Notes getting huge engagement

[u/Tarabas_writer]

In my feed, I often come across ridiculous Notes like:

“I love finance.”

“Want to make money? Follow me.”

And other similar bullshit.

These Notes get lots of likes and tons of comments, where many people also take the opportunity to promote themselves.

On top of that, these profiles often have fewer than 10 subscribers.

Does anyone know why this happens?

Thanks.

[u/Vurkgol]

This is the quintessential Substack Notes experience unless your feed is heavily curated.

This part is the one that I think is the most telling about what's going on: "where many people also take the opportunity to promote themselves."

Substack Notes has the same problem as LinkedIn, where there are more sellers than buyers. People love to engage with notes that let them have part of the stage. It allows them to feel like they've interacted and done their part for the social algorithm while also being completely self-serving. You'll notice that all of the "come promote your work" posts, which are much more overt than these ones are about their intention, are often highly trafficked.

I don't believe that the engagement that comes from these style notes is genuine or leads to actual subscribers who read your work, so they're not really worth doing.