Elon Musk's Twitter takeover is throwing the media landscape for a spin. The future of Twitter remains in question, and some users are looking to migrate.
Enter a slew of platforms hoping to win such users over. Some, like the decentralized media network Mastodon, are seeing unprecedented levels of interest. Then there's Substack: the subscription newsletter platform that is no stranger to controversy itself.
Substack is openly encouraging Twitter users to flock over, even setting up a designated page to smoothly allow the transition. "Turn your Twitter followers into Substack subscribers with one click," the description reads.
By clicking on the "Switch to Substack" button, users can apparently import their Twitter life elsewhere, shipping over "email lists, writing, and podcast episodes". Substack also has a page through which users of Revue, Twitter's soon-to-be-discontinued newsletter product, can move over. This option similarly allows Revue writers to import their archives, mailing list, and payment information — we're not quite sure what means for compliance with data protection laws like GDPR yet, but according to Substack's privacy policy you can contact Substack ([email protected]) for a copy of your personal information, to potentially "correct it, erase or restrict its processing."
In a blog post detailing what the transition can look like, Substack encouraged ways for current Twitter users to promote their newsletters, offering tips like "Link your Substack in a pinned tweet" and "Update the link in your Twitter bio".
Hamish McKenzie, co-founder of Substack and a former Tesla employee between 2014 and 2015, has been openly discussing the state of Twitter — and pushing for the emergence of his own platform — in several tweets and a post for the Substack newsletter. He revelled in a tweet that called Substack "opportunistic".
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"We don't think Twitter is going to disappear anytime soon, nor should it. It has its uses, and even cage fights can be fun. But it's time for a real alternative — one where people, not machines, have control; one where writers and creators can make reliable incomes from the work they do on the platform; one where important conversations can take place with nuance instead of snark," he writes in his post for "On Substack".
Substack has also placed its sights on Twitter users with the launch of Substack Chat, a feature announced yesterday. The new "community space" built within Substack allows writers and creators to chat to their followers via the Substack iOS app. Chat doesn't mirror Twitter as much as it replicates a fundamental Twitter function: to have an ongoing conversation with others online.
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In recent years, Substack itself has seen backlash to its views on content moderation and "free speech": two words that Musk is particularly fond of, too. Many Substack creators have walked away from the platform as a result of harassment, abuse, and misinformation. In March 2021, a Substack representative told Mashable that they will uphold their "hands-off approach to content moderation".
And still, Substack may now have a chance to cajole Twitter's hundreds of millions of followers. It appears to be successfully doing so as confusion and distaste surrounding Musk's Twitter mounts.
Several writers and journalists, for example — a demographic that has long dominated Twitter — have been announcing their moves to Substack, including Washington Post technology columnist Taylor Lorenz, whose Twitter username now reads "SUBSCRIBE TO MY SUBSTACK". Lorenz tweeted about her newsletter, writing, "Not sure what will happen to this app."
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Elsewhere, people have declared their intentions and experiments with making the shift.
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But for all the talk of Twitter alternatives, there's a huge chance many are likely to stay put. If nothing else, doing so can be a way to get people to subscribe to your Substack.
