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 (privacy@substackinc.com) 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 ».
« 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.
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. »
Elsewhere, people have declared their intentions and experiments with making the shift.
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.
