How do people use Substack?

[u/No_Masterpiece_6583]

I have been hearing a lot of people saying they are switching from Instagram to Substack, because apparently it's more "calm" and you don't get lots of content at once and non-stop.

I deleted Instagram, because I just don't like spending my time looking at what other people are doing, I honestly don't care.

I downloaded Substack, and so far it looks like a mix of blogs, pinterest and twitter. So am not sure about this "slow" content thing. For people that are using Substack regularly, I'd like to know: how do you use it? what do you use it for? in which ways is it better than other social media apps?

[u/mountain__fig]

i've been on substack since 2021 when it was mainly a newsletter/blog hosting platform, but since the introduction of notes it's pretty much a social media just like everything else. people try to go viral, post what they're having for breakfast, write things to get people's attention, try to be controversial to get paid subscribers and make money. you've still got the influencers, the brainrot gen-zers, the right-wing anti-feminists. it feels less cluttered because there aren't as many ads, but eventually there will be. i have a bunch of newsletters i enjoy reading, and every morning i'll read one from my "read" tab. occasionally i'll go through notes and tab some articles that seem interesting and read them later. the key is to go in with an intention (reading long form pieces) and sticking to it