Decoder with Nilay Patel

Is Substack Notes a ‘Twitter clone’? We asked CEO Chris Best.

Apr 13, 2023

Chris Best, Co-founder and CEO of Substack, discusses the recent launch of Substack Notes, drawing comparisons to Twitter amidst competitive tensions. He shares insights about the platform's shift from enterprise software to consumer-focused products. Best reflects on the challenges of content moderation, emphasizing a unique subscription model that prioritizes community. Delving into algorithms, he contrasts Substack’s user-centric approach with traditional ad-driven platforms, highlighting the importance of trust and financial transparency in nurturing writers and their audiences.

01:08:01

Episode guests

Chris Best

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Substack Notes introduces Twitter-like features for authors, sparking competition with social networks.

Substack transitions from enterprise software to consumer product, aiming to revolutionize internet economics.

Substack stands by writers amidst Twitter's actions, emphasizing trust, audience ownership, and platform reliability.

Deep dives

Substack Notes Feature and Its Impact

Substack introduced the Substack Notes feature, allowing authors to post short text snippets, link sharing, and discussions akin to Twitter. The feature faced backlash when Twitter, led by Elon Musk, took aggressive actions against Substack, affecting writers. While Substack has historically been more of an enterprise software for paid emails, the addition of Substack Notes pits it against social networks like Twitter, raising concerns about content moderation and readiness for consumer-focused products.

Intro

5min

Reflections on Startup Leadership and Growth

2min

Substack's Evolution and Challenges

21min

Revolutionizing Social Media: Substack's New Approach

4min

Navigating Social Algorithms: Substack vs. Traditional Platforms

9min

Exploring Substack's Unique Subscription Network

3min

Navigating Content Moderation on Substack Notes

17min

Navigating Growth and Financial Transparency

10min

It is fair to say that Substack has had a dramatic week and a half or so, and I talked to their CEO Chris Best about it. The company announced a new feature called Substack Notes, which looks quite a bit like Twitter — Substack authors can post short bits of text to share links and kick off discussions, and people can reply to them, like the posts, the whole thing. Like I said, Twitter.

Twitter, under the direction of Elon Musk, did not like the prospect of this competition, and for several days last week, Twitter was taking aggressive actions against Substack. At one point you couldn’t even like tweets with Substack links in them. At another point, clicking on a Substack link resulted in a warning message about the platform being unsafe. And finally, Twitter redirected all searches for the word Substack to “newsletter.” Musk claimed Substack was somehow downloading the Twitter database to bootstrap Substack Notes, which, well, I’m still not sure what that means, but I at least asked Chris what he thought that meant and whether he was doing it.

It’s tempting to think of Substack like a rival platform to Twitter, but until the arrival of Substack Notes, it was much more like enterprise software. With Substack Notes, the company is in direct competition with social networks like Twitter. It’s shipping a consumer product that’s designed to be used by Substack readers. It is no longer just a software vendor; it’s a consumer product company. And that carries with it another set of content moderation concerns, that, after talking to Chris, I’m just not sure Substack is ready for. Like, I really don’t know. You’ll just have to listen to his answers — or really, non-answers — for yourself.

This is a wild one. I’m still processing it. Let me know what you think. Okay, Chris Best, CEO of Substack. Here we go.

Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/23445916

Links:

Can Substack CEO Chris Best build a new model for journalism? - The Verge

Now live for all: Substack Notes

Substack Content Guidelines

Welcome to the new Verge (re Quick Posts)

Can Mastodon seize the moment from Twitter? - The Verge

Twitter’s newsletter tool is shutting down in less than a month - The Verge

Elon Musk on Twitter: "@BretWeinstein 1. Substack links were never blocked..."

Casey Newton - Substack Notes

Platformer on Substack