Come for the culture, stay for the conversation
Introducing chat paywalls, search, and usability upgrades
The Hung Up chat feels like the roped-off VIP section of a nightclub, or the group chat of all the kids who got cellphones early. It’s a rapid-fire conversation of memes, hot takes, unpopular opinions, ruthless inside jokes, and earned (and sometimes unearned) shade. It’s my favorite part of running my newsletter. There’s no better low-effort, high-reward way to engage with all my readers.
The Hung Up chat is just one example of how communities are thriving on Substack. Your chat can serve as a virtual sports bar, a daily book club, or a sounding board for your research. If Notes is like the buzzy house party you attend to meet new readers, Chat is the private backchannel you have with your closest friends to discuss what happened.
Learn more: How do I enable chat for my publication?
Today we’re releasing several new Chat features to help grow your subscriber community.
Paywall your entire Chat
It’s now easier to gate your chat to paid subscribers only, or founding members. This can keep conversations intimate and troll-free, while acting as a simple paid perk for your readers. Our data shows that active chat participants are 12% more likely to retain their subscription after a year.
Paywall the whole chat: In your Settings, you can now paywall access to your entire chat space rather than on a thread-by-thread basis. Free subscribers and non-subscribers will be prompted to upgrade in order to view your chat.
Founding tier: You can also paywall the whole chat, individual chat threads, or permission to start a new thread to founding members only.
Every week, hundreds (even thousands!) of paying subscribers to the DrawTogether Grown-Ups Table share their artwork, comment on each other’s posts, and cheer each other on. The opportunity to engage with other DrawTogether members in the Chat is one of the main reasons paid subscribers more than doubled during our 30-Day Drawing Habit challenge in January.
Learn more: How do I paywall my chat?
Improved navigation and usability
Many readers prefer the simplicity of Substack Chat to other platforms.
, a paid subscriber to , says in a thread comparing Discord and Chat: “It’s been great and convenient to read [writer ]’s stuff and participate in the chat, all in one place. Chat is especially good as an X substitute, because everyone here is smart, funny, and respectful.”Based on creator and reader feedback, we’ve upgraded the Chat interface to make it even easier to navigate large, active groups.
Chat search: Easily find old threads with our new Chat search feature, available on web and iOS. (Android is coming soon.)
Easily find fashion recommendations by searching Megan Alida Strachan’s chat
Navigation improvements: Thread parent context, new reply badges, and improved notification routing ensure that you never lose your place in a conversation.
Real-time messaging: We’re currently upgrading our back-end systems to load new chats and replies in real time, making it easier to participate in chats about live events.
Leave chat: You can now leave a chat without unsubscribing from the publication by clicking the three-dot menu in the top-right of a chat thread. (You can also mute a chat to stop notifications instead.)
In Chat, you’re always speaking to your people. It’s a subscriber-only community space where you create the guest list and you make the rules. Invite your subscribers to geek out on film, discuss breaking financial news, or host a candid AMA in a troll-free space.
Hunter Harris’s subscribers regularly praise the Hung Up chat as a space to engage with Hunter, as well as each other: “We come to this place for magic.”
Interested in launching a chat? In the coming days, we’ll be sharing more tips and case studies on how writers are facilitating vibrant communities in Chat.
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