176 Comments
Apr 16Liked by Hamish McKenzie

Notes has become the main place I hang out on social media. Feels better here! 💥

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It's become my main Social Media now, too. The others are pointless, because as soon as you try and post any Links to your work the post gets suppressed and hardly anyone sees it! 😎

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Feel so too

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GRACIAS CRISTINA DIOSKRISTINS GOD

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100% agree. It's a nice place to be.

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I'm still mainly on Twitter(X), thinking on making the switch.

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RemovedApr 16
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Me too. It's different

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I've said it before: Notes is the best fiction writing meet-up I've ever been to. And it's just there, whenever I need it.

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It's a great place to connect with other writers, yes. And there's lots of fun little challenges going on for Fiction Writers, too, on Notes. I've just started getting more involved with them myself and it's been very enjoyable.... 😎

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Notes is a game changer. Perfect for bantering with other writers, reaching new readers, punchy shorter thoughts, and resurfacing older posts. Thrilled to make a video debut on Notes: https://substack.com/@yuribezmenov/note/c-54051367?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=j3a7

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Congrats 🎉🎉🎉 love Notes. Awesome social media platform inside Substack

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Super with the video feature!! I love video content

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I'm really enjoying it, too. There's a lot of great people on there who are posting some excellent content that is always fun to browse through and engage with... 😎

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Apr 16Liked by Hamish McKenzie

Notes is my only social media platform (after quitting or never joining the rest). I find it such a kind, uplifting place to hang out. And being there has absolutely boosted free and paid subscriptions to my newsletter.

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I completely agree. You're far better off going all-in here, as it's so much more welcoming and refreshing to be a part of. There are so many great writers here to connect with and of course, there are lots of readers floating around, too, looking for things to enjoy... 😎

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Notes is a failure so far. Substack tried to attract the Twitter crowd during its turbulent period but failed. The algorithm is broken. It’s not open to non-subscribers and users are yet to understand how to follow a writer. Substack should stick to being what it originally wanted to be and not copycat other social platforms. That’s why writers have invested in the platform.

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Genuinely curious: if you think notes is a failure, what does success look like for it? From my perspective, it seems like more and more folks are using it all the time, and it’s certainly helping me discover people I’m interested in hearing from and connecting with. That seems like quite the success to me.

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They haven’t figured out the right algorithm formula yet. It can become what they want it to be ‘new Twitter’ if they get it right.

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Ok so I think you missed the point. They do NOT want to be Twitter or other social media. Other social media goal is to attract a crowd to serve ads so the company profits. Substack is crowdsourced as well as crowdfunded. The artists/writers get paid direct what they're worth instead of a label gets the money and distributes as they see fit.

You are right though; as a money grab for Substack itself, Notes is a failure!

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I think the problem is that Substack is focused too much on getting big names to move to Substack and have not set up a system where aspiring writers have much of a chance of growing and making money at the same time. If they introduced a microcurrency where you could buy "Stackers" (someone can do better than that) that allow people to purchase one off reads or subscribe at very low prices it wouldn't hurt anyone and would give the small guy a chance. Furthermore, the email sign up is 10 years old, they need a modern, phonebased quick sign up, subscribe, buy micro currency,etc with two clicks. .

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LOL hi did you get up on the wrong side of the bed today? Hamish is repeating what I have heard quite a few say just hanging out here. What payoff do you get from griefering nice posts?

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Griefering is a new one to me but I love it!

There you go Notes is working.

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Excited for this feature! Will be fun to share videos and engage with my audience that way ✨

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Yes, Video and Audio content is often much more engaging. So I think this will add a lot to the Notes experience... 😎

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Notes is absolutely fantastic. I've been investing a lot more time in it over the past few weeks and it's been really paying off. I've made some great connections and had some very enjoyable conversations. I'm posting a lot more content there myself, too, and have actually turned my Notes feed into a 'mini publication'. Thanks for confirming Twitter are suppressing Substack Links, too. I've been saying this for a while and it's a big reason why I've pretty much stopped using Twitter now. It's pointless trying to build a community around my work there if I can't talk about my work or show anyone where it is! This is a much friendlier and supportive place anyway, and I'm very happy to be here... 😎

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Notes is a happy place but like any social media I need to curtail my addiction to the scroll. I’ve seen more new subscribers and followers from Recommendations. It’s fantastic. Unsure how to know if new subscriber is from Notes. Great news about posting videos!

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Would be great to know whether someone found you via Notes. I often see Substack Network. Maybe that's meant with it? But I think it also includes some more factors

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Yes. Just an N would do the trick. 😉

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That's an interesting point. I would assume that 'Substack Network' probably means the reader has come from Notes. It would also be great to know how many views a Note has been getting, as well, as sometimes mine go by without engagement and I do wonder if anyone saw it or not... 😎

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There is a huge group of writers who have choosen Substack for being different than all this social media cr*p. I know Hamish is very focused on this area which generates for many no subscribers. Or just followers which don't convert.

I am using it for now, but if I don't see any growth from Notes I might abandon it.

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I love notes! Thanks Substack!

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There's a huge amount of stuff happening on Notes these days! It's a fun and vibrant place! 😎

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Thanks for the mention, Hamish!

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exciting news everyone plz be sure to buy my "Notes & Nots: A Do's and Do Nots guide to Substack Notes" it costs $3990

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RemovedApr 16
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thx mat I'll send an invoice

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Wow can't believe it's been a year already, it was a great addition to the platform, but I still don't use them nearly enough!

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Soon I'll share an interview with David about using Notes!

Looking forward to your atomic newsletter interview too. Will send you and Evan an email. I think it will be in May ✉️

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Sounds good, looking forward to both :)

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Another downside of Notes for bilingual writers is that Notes are bound to the writer and not to the Substack.

So you cannot write 2 separate note streams - one for each language, because you have only one writer-handle. Many readers don't like bilingual posts, because they are confusing for the reader.

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Yes, I would love to have individual profiles for my two Substacks and my writer profile. But that kinda just makes it more like Twitter.

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If you are trying to copy social media it's better to copy the upsides than the downsides. Notes seems to be made by people who don't understand how the customers work.

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One would hope. But yeah, the problem with Notes being able to embed videos or share videos directly is that it doesn’t increase the visibility of the actual newsletter. Which is where you’re going to actually make money. Unless Substack is going to start paying for every view of a video or Note, there’s no benefit to the writers.

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I'm interested to know how Notes helps new writers. Is there a random seed algorithm that puts notes into people's feeds? That would be the way to get engagement for people organically within Substack rather than having to rely on other platforms.

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