Chris TrottierSubstack is not a suitable alternative to Twitter.
If Elon Musk can buy Twitter, he can buy Substack.
However, Elon Musk cannot buy the Fediverse. No one company owns it. It is not for sale.
At this point, if a social network refuses to join the Fediverse, I’m not interested.
Anyone trying to build yet another proprietary walled garden is just a mini-Musk.
You do not need a billionaire or a VC fund to use social media.
They are just middlemen opportunists trying to insert themselves between you and your friends.
The Internet was built to make it easy for you to connect with others, and that is getting easier with protocols like ActivityPub.
You don’t need Elon Musk. You don’t need Mark Zuckerberg. You certainly don’t need any Silicon Valley tech bro to let you use social media.
To people who say that Elon Musk won't buy Substack because he could "barely afford" to buy Twitter: Substack is no unicorn.
Substack's current valuation sits at $585 million.
That might be an over-estimation because its revenue for the entirety of 2022 was probably $18.6 million.
Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion. He can assuredly buy Substack if he wanted it.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/28/23660473/substack-retail-investors-revenue-profit
I've worked for a social media start-up before. In fact, I was an early employee at a well known one. I know how this goes.
Founders start with the best of intentions.
But then VCs start making demands. And at that point, startups go for the fastest, easiest method to acquire revenue growth. That is, if they want to stay on board.
A good many of them take their exit as soon as it becomes available. Just look at Instagram and WhatsApp.
If Elon Musk walked into Substack's office right now (probably with a sink) and offered them $585 million to buy it, do you think their shareholders would say "No"?
Not on their life.
They would be skipping for joy. Everyone who owns equity in Substack would be popping open bottles of champagne.
Meanwhile, all those writers that Substack is paying will now be under Musk's thumb -- yet again.
This is why the Fediverse is the better choice compared to Substack.
Some folks might be thinking, “Unlike the Fediverse, Substack gives writers an opportunity to get paid.”
Not so fast.
When @TexasObserver was nearly shut down because they lacked funding for operations, they turned to the Fediverse for help.
Within 48 hours, we helped them raise $250,000 in funding—and now that 70-year-old newspaper still lives.
As a result, 17 journalists still have their jobs.
Ollie Francis@atomicpoet @TexasObserver The issue I still have is discoverability. The homepage of Medium, for example, gives a fine selection of articles to start reading. I haven't found a Fediverse offering that manages that (yet). It's frustrating, because I imagine that should be easy with an ActivityPub feed. I can't understand why I haven't found something like that yet.
@ollie_francis @TexasObserver The important question: what exactly are you trying to discover?
@atomicpoet @TexasObserver Personally, I want a place where I can be given a list of long-form writing from creators and hashtags I follow without any of the short-form, quick-fire posts that tend to form the bulk of Mastodon.
I want articles, not comments. Fewer and higher-effort postings. Medium for the Fediverse.
I want articles, not comments. Fewer and higher-effort postings. Medium for the Fediverse.
Evan B🥥ehs@ollie_francis @atomicpoet @TexasObserver I'm optimistic medium will add activity pub to their main service? They are obviously excited about the fediverse. The custom domains could be pesudo instances!
CC @coachtony ;)
@eb @atomicpoet @TexasObserver @coachtony If they can't make money from it, I can't see how it is in their interest to do ActivityPub for their actual main content. Mastodon only works for them because it drives traffic to their walled garden.
@ollie_francis @atomicpoet @TexasObserver @coachtony I'm not suggesting it becomes open source or self-host-able, just that it integrates with AP.
Tony Stubblebine@eb @ollie_francis @atomicpoet @TexasObserver yes we are excited. But.
I think usage trumps protocol. So by usage the fediverse is, for now, effectively short form. To maintain social etiquette we think it’s better to bring our authors via an instance rather than our posts via AP. I’m sure it will change eventually. But first we all should not lose track of establishing this first short form use case. It’s not guaranteed to last