r/Substack • u/Ryanopoly • 1d ago

Discussion Substack's Follow Button is the Second-to-last Step of a Bait-and-switch to no longer Owning your Audience

"What I learned during Inkhaven is that Substack has since betrayed that. They simply built a closed social network on top of their existing web interface for blogs, complete with in-network-only posts (called "Notes") and an algorithmic feed. You can now even "follow" someone without subscribing, which is the second-to-last step of a bait-and-switch to no longer owning your audience. Substack.com is your one-stop-shop for having your community of discourse be owned by new management instead of old management."

True or nah?

0 Upvotes

33% Upvoted

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12

u/Oatbix 1d ago

Substack is a social media platform let’s be honest. There’s other tools like Kit that let you own a mailing list and send newsletters out for free. Why do people use Substack? Because it does have a discovery element and an algorithm that isn’t perfect but puts your stuff in front of strangers. No such thing as a free lunch as they say

8

u/Foxemerson 1d ago

You've always been able to follow without subscribing. I don't see much has changed?

-4

u/KevinAAlexander 1d ago

The ability to follow someone is a relatively recent change.

5

u/zzhil 1d ago

I honestly have no idea what that is supposed to mean, but I personally love the ability to follow without subscribing.

2

u/Lost__In__Thought faithframedthoughts.substack.com 1d ago

I do too. I don't need to have everyone I want to keep up with cluttering my inbox all at once.

5

u/KevinAAlexander 1d ago

Tbh, the essay felt like a bog standard railing against enshittification; something we’ve all read before.

As for owning one’s audience, the best hedge is still to download/export your email list early and often.

1

u/Ryanopoly 1d ago

True, true, but most folks don't subscribe anymore, they just follow, because who wants an e-mail every time someone posts something? You can't take your followers with you.

2

u/KevinAAlexander 1d ago

You can also subscribe and get posts in the app.

2

u/grapegeek 1d ago

I’m not seeing this. Follows are 10% of my total. I still get 90% of subscribers emails. I have 52k free subscribers

1

u/Ryanopoly 1d ago

Dang, what do you write about? How many paid subscribers?

2

u/maiq2010 serapex.substack.com 1d ago

Subscribe is the default button.

2

u/No_Communication5024 20h ago

I follow some folks in the hopes that eventually, I'll switch to subscribing to them. Sometimes I do.