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.
Thank you for these new features! Being able to create chats for paid subscribers/founding members will def make me feel inclined to use the chat feature more. Had some weird replies when I first used it and never went back.
I really like that pic and the name. It reminds me of a pharmaceutical advertisement. Don’t take that with I’ll will either because I have none
Going to give paid chat a whirl, awesome new feature!
Great! TMT Breakout (https://www.tmtbreakout.com/) is one example of a writer using paid chat already.
Since Chat is the subject of this post, I'm prioritizing responding to comments asking questions about Chat (including negative feedback, such as noisy chats where people want the option to leave).
The Substack team is working on a lot of other features right now too—including the notes algorithm, search/discoverability, and more. But we'll share more about those updates in other posts.
Reminder of the rules here in the comment section of our company blog: you are free to criticize us, but please keep it civil.
I haven't used this feature, but as I hit 100 subscribers I wonder if I have enough 'mass' now to make this worthwhile. Does anyone have any tips on starting out and welcoming your subscribers with a first thread on the Chat feature?
Hi! Here's the doc on how to launch a chat: https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/10409888763668-How-do-I-enable-Chat-on-my-Substack
If you have a smaller list, Chat will require a bit more proactive investment from your end to let your subscribers know about the feature, and make it a core part of participating. There's a "Join my chat" button you can add to posts, and I might recommend creating a ritual like a weekly AMA.
But I also think it's fine to wait to build your core newsletter list and introduce a community feature later, too. We'll keep sharing more tips & resources on Chat in the coming days.
Thanks! I'll read between your gentle lines that 100 probably isn't enough, understandably. But it's great to know how this feature works and I can unleash it when the time is ready!
Start by initiating a joke without a punchline, after that order some Chinese take out and then get an Uber to the museum
Dishing out the secret recipe for success I see!
Well this is exciting!
While all these new features are cool, the executive team should prioritize its resources on existing issues and bugs, most importantly the algorithm of NOTES. My own followers never see my Notes, it beats the purpose of engagement as NOTES was launched exactly for that purpose, for discovery and engagement.
As a crowd funded platform with limited resources, the focus must be on user experience and not on new features every week. We have seen it time and time again startups fail because the direction is focused on things that don’t matter. Hope this is taken as positive feedback.
Want to see the real comments - skip the ones at the top “liked” by Substack.
Look at the hypocrisy of Substack. They continue to hide their failures by Liking the positive comments so the truth gets hidden 😂. Keep liking this comment to get it on Top.
When you expose the issues with NOTES and Substack features, the founder goes and posts this Note:
https://substack.com/@hamish/note/c-55277077?r=aegif&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
It's all about money and how many subscribers you have. Personally I don't give a fuck.
I am NOT here to make money/I just want the truth to get out.
I have been contacted on substack by writers offering me a course in writing for 2,500$
Fuck off.
💯
Agree.
Once upon a time substack was a place which was easy to use.
I am an older person and I am SUPPOSED to know what I am doing.
All I am hearing from substack is a non-stop 'chitter/chat/chitter/chat. One sentence and you are supposed to know what these morons are saying.
They are desperate to bring in investors as their funding is getting low. So they have to show they can bring in new features. That’s how fundraising works.
And Substack founders / team never acknowledge or respond to such criticism but instead Like only the positive comments.
Most excellent. Just enabled my chat paywall. Many thanks!
All my post are free. They always will be. Paywalling a chat is just too pernicious, I don't think it's useful. Charging people money so they can comment, is like a back door for censorship, blocking potentially useful conversation. Not everyone is going to be interested in getting a "Stripe" account either. I will NEVER use Online Banking or Digital currency. My opinion may run counter to many here; it seems the majority of people who do come to Substack are doing so to escape the crap they experienced on other "Platforms."
Sorry if I seem a bit negative here.
Where can I go to see how well Substack, itself is performing? Are there annual reports. I’m a big fan, but Substack needs to hear some honest criticism- perhaps a paywalled user’s forum.
NOT negative at all. I feel the same.
IF you want your ideas 'out there' forget about money!
Either you are fighting to help or you are the usual US person who wants to make money?
Ideas are at the center of anything meaningful and worth living for. Money often spawns conformity, dependence on the system. Money is not bad, just not my focus, community knowledge base, open discussion that's important.
Yes.
You're not. The majority of ss writers feel the same. Adding chat is ridiculous and not why I signed up
Yes, it seems to make things more complicated. I like having decent conversations with people who share similar concerns and have good ideas.
The more simple things are the easier it is.
Pound on the back door the front only rattles a bit
😆 🤣
The Chat Search feature is going to be really helpful! Thanks for this!
The possibility of having a discussion forum could be a good idea.
With us yes. Lol
So the "comments" section isn't enough? I write. I don't "chat".
Great feature. Thx Substack! Chat is the one place I’m timid fearing crickets if I open a convo. This gave me courage to try.
This is one of the best thing to happen, an improvement on CHAT. My chat is to serve as my private “Telegram group” on substack and it is the major bonus to my payed subscribers.
@substack I would love to add that if it’s possible to have an analytics built for the chats and threads…it would be interesting to track most read, conversation etc my newsletter focuses on well researched opportunities and value investing of cryptocurrency https://cryptofada.substack.com/
I've used chat intermittently, with some uncertainty of how it fits into my larger Substack ecosystem. These new settings are helpful in returning to the creative drawing board of how to use this feature, thanks team!
Pointy headed intellectuals wannabes
We LOVE chat at Sparkle on Substack! It took a while to get going but 9 months in were flying and it’s such a supportive space. Come chat? 💬 we’re talking setting Substack goals for May today - open to all! ✨
Thank you for the option to leave a chat!
These are all interesting features although I haven’t been one to use the chat feature generally. I asked my subscribers and they weren’t all that into it. However, there are chats that I might prefer not to get notified of.
What I would love is a variation on this option. There are some places where I would prefer not to get an email from. I would be happy to simply read it in the app. But I don’t necessarily want to unsubscribe to their Substack. Just don’t want emails in my inbox.
Or perhaps the ability to get weekly round ups for the more active writers. The Free Press has sorta started doing this with their “Front Page” that they just announced. Something like that for readers to customize would be great.
Fair feedback! Do you think muting a chat (turning off notifs for a specific chat) or leaving it (turning off notifs + it disappears from your inbox) would help? Neither will unsubscribe you from the publication. You can choose those options by clicking on the 3-dot menu in the top-right of a specific chat.
Yes, I appreciate it as an option. This to me is a much better update than some of the more recent ones. I don’t really have much use for the video and audio features. I’m sure there are people who are using it great, but it’s not really focused on writing.
Someone on Notes suggested that customizing text features like allowing underlining of text or other features. These are probably much less difficult to implement.
Culture
Shmulture
You are always innovating!
Every tool presented is one that each writer can use at their discretion. Some work and others don’t. I’m happy for new features that works for the different types of artists here.
Here is the issue for me. I subscribe to NYT, WaPo, The Guardian, 12 magazines and have more than enough to read. However, there are some very interesting writers on Substack. I might do $5/month but when it spirals upward to $8/month, I cannot swing it.
Gotcha
When will we get rich text in comments? I can't even add a hyperlink or bold a word.
So you are saying you are starting porn here?
You are moving away from ,what I thought, was a quality content platform to a tic toc gossip chicken pen! The pay-to-play is challenging enough for those on limited budgets but this smacks of elitist snobbery. I'm a writer. My craft is sourced from my real life experience. I don't want to spend my life inside a chat app. I appreciate my audience feedback and not become some "exclusive club".
SUBSTACK: OK.
Please DELETE and BAR the following account:
https://theponzipapers.substack.com/
WHY?
Because on 19 April 2024, "Ponzi" platformed the arsonist-SELF-IMMOLATION-suicide-note of one Max Azarello, who burnt himself alive in front of the NYC courthouse where Trump is tried.
Here is the purported suicide note, as platformed by "Ponzi":
https://theponzipapers.substack.com/p/i-have-set-myself-on-fire-outside?utm_source=substack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web
Here is a link to the "USA Today" article that alerted me to the Substack-hosted (!) suicide note:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/04/19/donald-trump-hush-money-trial-news-updates/73379651007/
The headline in that "USA Today" Article reads: "Manifesto shows Max Azzarello was mired in conspiracy theories before setting himself on fire outside Trump trial."
The OPENING PARAGRAPH of that "USA Today" Article reads:
"In a post on a Substack newsletter called "The Ponzi Papers," Max Azzarello said he had burned himself alive to draw attention to the U.S. political and economic system.
"My name is Max Azzarello, and I am an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan," the post says."
I pointed this scandal out timely, AFTER two attempts internally to report the matter to Substack Management using THEIR communication channels.
Here are my original postings on this matter:
https://siddharthahermannhesse.substack.com/p/substack-self-regulation?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
And:
https://siddharthahermannhesse.substack.com/p/armando-wrote-substack-to-delete?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
I hope among the readers of this posting there is someone who is far smarter than am I in dealing with Substack management, because this SCANDAL needs to be resolved.
I am a follower on this. I hope someone is taking leadership in eliminating these conspiracy theorists from the Substack platform.
There are SUCH GOOD writers on Substack. Of course, there are leaders like Heather Cox Richardson and Joyce Vance (as in, "We are in this together.").
Other GREAT Substack platform writers include CellyBlue, Somiah Nettles ("Victorian"), Alicia Norman ("angry black chick" -- if she really were angry, she hides it well, because she is a dear and good person and has deep spiritual insight that I treasure), Lorraine Evanoff ("LoLo Reports" -- and, so far, FOUR Louise-Moscow novels of high culture and criminal investigations), Gloria Horton-Young ("She who stirs the Storm"), Kiwiwriter 47 (who tells compellingly of the Holocaust and keeps us from ever forgetting), Patti Smith (FINE, very FINE poet), Diane K24 ("Blue Notes" -- but ALL of her notes are G-O-O-D), Susan Niemann (too, a fine photographer, and whose fine prose shares so deeply of herself). Pamela Leavey (fine poet), Kate Morgan Reade (whose philological interests inspire mine), Sherman Alexie (fine poet), Liz Gauffreau (a gifted writer), Jay Kuo (very informative and sound judgment on ongoing threats to Democracy), Weston Parker (fine poet), Alice Goldbloom (fine writer).
I LOVE the Substack Platform for these and countless excellent writers and artists.
There should be zero-tolerance for right-wing and racist conspiracy theory and much less for terrorists writing suicide notes (or at least the conspiracy theorist hosting a PURPORTED suicide note by the suicide).
BLOCK and DELETE THE PONZI PLATFORM as a consequence of the Suicide!
Payroll your chat. But warn us first. Nothing worse than arriving at the end of a post, thinking carefully, then attempting to comment only to be paywalled. Ouch
WHY would anyone need a paywall?
Bow tie and Botox reminds me of places I used to be
Hi
jjii bay,ee namatti toludha Galattoma isiinin jena
Akkamitti hojjachuu dandeenya birrii ittii galchuu barbda
Friday Night Funkin' (FNF) is a popular music rhythm game where players must follow the beat and shoot music arrows in time with the music to defeat the boss. In each level, players control Boyfriend, a young man who is trying to win over his girlfriend's father (and various other characters) by battling them in rhythm-based competitions. https://fridaynight-funkin.org/
Hi, how do I get in touch with a real person?
I have a suggstion wrt the Italian site.
Buongiorno, come si fa a contattare qualcuno dello staff?
Ho una segnalazione.
PLEASE DELIST ME FROM SUBSTACK ALTOGETHER.
I already did, and It was smudged. I'm afraid of the powerful few creating more ways to benefit themselves. Like my mother's college sorority, which was dedicated to helping sorority members.
PERIOD, END OF DISCUSSION.
Great to hear of these improvements. I thought maybe Chat was being left to crumble as I'd often found it buggy. I shall try to make the time to spend some time in there now :)
Cool
It seems like Substack is always hard at work, creating new features with so much innovation!