32 Comments

So excited for this. Can't wait to see what all these wonderful writers and communities do with Threads <3

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This is tremendous. Excited to see how it develops!

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This sounds like something that should work! Best wishes with the Beta testing.

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Building a community around my art/newsletter is important to me. I applaud your efforts to that effect.

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Hopefully the Substack Android app with the new Threads feature comes out soon

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Working on web & android access to Threads is definitely a priority to us!

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If it's viable I would certainly use Polls to interact with my readers on a more regular basis. Polls within posts themselves seems not as immersive as I had hoped thus far for my audience.

I know what a Twitter thread is but still not able to picture easily what this is. Since I cover breaking News in the A.I. and tech space, I could see myself using this I think in that context.

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You can subscribe to one of the pilot publications to check out what Threads look like in action :)

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Thank you Jasmine, for a second there I thought this was something new besides the discussion threads already possible. Curiously they seem to perform better to a micro niche, than more general category topics from my research thus far.

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Oh it is a new feature! Subscribe to one of those publications, then restart your Substack app and you should see the new space.

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I guess where it makes the most sense is when other writers are your actual audience and readers. You'd need a critical mass to adopt the app and topical discovery that makes sense on mobile. I haven't yet seen the app so I cannot really comment (I'm not an iOS user). I'm not 100% certain "Threads" is the right name for this feature.

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Such a great feature - excited about trying it

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What a hell of a great idea!

Would someone like to collaborate with me? I have a new Substack and am looking to grow! Open to any ideas or feedback.

Thank you!

jaroslavnovosyolov.substack.com

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Interesting! Any (rough) idea on when a full rollout might happen?

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Hopefully within a few months, but it depends how the pilot goes and what we learn!

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I think I'll give this a shot over the next few days! Very cool to see Substack piloting features like this. There seems to be such positivity in this community, that's inherent in how the platform was built. Will be curious to see how behavior continues to evolve with features like this. Anybody doing well "threads" out there?

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I'm new to Substack - not even a month yet - and I'm having trouble understanding how threads differ from a regular post. I published one thread just to see what happened and the process was the same I think? I looked at some of the examples linked in the article and they also look the same as a regular post. Can you help me understand the differentiator and how it might enhance my readers' experience? Thank you.

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Quick question - on Elle Griffin’s substack, the top menu items have custom names... is that a feature that will be rolled out (or is it something i've missed).

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I have already been using this and created a separate section on my stack that is only focused on "Discussions" or Threads: https://ti0x.substack.com/s/discussions

I love this feature and invite you'll to participate :)

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I don't trust or recommend apps. The only ones I use come with my Apple devices.

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I've been online only about 40 years, so I have a lot to learn.

At this point, I think the best use of my time is to produce good content that keeps readers coming back for more. Like most publications, my subscribers have a lot of other places to go including some that have much more active and interesting comments sections than I'll ever have. Without message boards, however, none have real "communities." See wsj.com. NYT.com, WashingtonPost.com. SeekingAlpha.com.

Unless you have readers starting threads, asking each other questions and really talking to each other, you don't have a community.

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In my experience and reading, I've learned that maybe 1% to 10% of a publication's readers will participate in a message board or a thread. I had a message board that had about 50% as many people as the number of subscribers to our affiliated and sponsoring parents magazine.

Now most magazines and newspapers have comments sections that are nowhere as reader friendly or inviting as message boards. It is very difficult to form communities on comments sections whereas it used to be easy on message boards. Boards are much more complex and difficult to administer than comments sections.

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