I've come to realize that the transient nature of most "social" platforms bothers me a great deal (and yes, I have to include Substack and Bluesky in that category; they're great now, but so were Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, etc. once upon a time).
All the time I spent on Twitter, all gone when I decided to run screaming from the impending toxic radioactive dumpster fire. I don't care about the actual content, but the time spent on it? Ugh. Instagram is likely going to follow. Fortunately I never got much traction there, guess the algorithm punished me for the sin of not engaging and posting all the time. But still the time spent making those posts...it wasn't zero. I could have done something meaningful with that time, and I did not.
So, if I'm sinking my often limited free time into anything, it should be something I know will stick around and that I care deeply about.
I used to blog, and since those posts all exist as files under my direct control that can be hosted just about anywhere, using a domain I've owned since the 1990s, they're still up online, all the way back to the first one in 2009 (the site prior to then is gone, but that was my choice).
Goals for this year include tangible output, like a zine or two maybe, but also making sure my online presence is more robust than a corner of someone else's platform.
There are no guarantees that a great platform that's not under your own control will remain great, or even continue to exist at all, in the future.
Being new to Substack, I have no idea what I’m doing, I’m still trying to figure it out, but I’ve really enjoyed and been inspired by your page. Posts like this give me so much creative energy. Thank you for the work you do!
I was just thinking about you today..wondering where you are or are up to...but also wondering if the algorithm shifted and I just don't see your thought provocations any more?
I'll tell you that I am listening and taking up this effort with a new personal site. But it's a struggle to decide about what to do when all of the audience is here and it's very lonely over there. After so many announcements over 2-3 weeks, 2 people showed up on the new site from here. That comes through as a complete loss of momentum and running back over here to stay connected.
There's something I think and talk about a lot...about how communication and dialogue is a two-way street but we put most or all of the ownership of whether it happens or not on the writer / messenger while the reader / recipient gets to dismiss / avoid / never respond. In real-world conversation, we would consider this rude behavior...but it is OK in the digital world. It started with email at work but it's only become worse with social media.
I kidded last week in a related note or post that a may've we need to set up "blog-crawls" for people starting new personal sites again?
Anyway, great thoughts and perceiving a lot of motivation from your words here.
This is so good, Seth - and so soothing to read! I deffo wanna think more about making things more tangible in my day-to-day, for myself as much as anyone else. The 'messages on beaches' pattern (which is the perfect description of it) can leave me feeling like my entire job and creative output is just made-up/ephemeral/not real... and that's a definite energy sap! Tangible things, events and connections have so much more substance and meaning, they deserve prioritising. Thank you for the reminder 🙌
So glad this resonated with you! "NOT REAL" is right -- it's just... GONE! I think of all the Tweets I posted from 2006-2023 and they're all just GONE. I could have written a book with those words haha
I largely agree, however i use my notes feed as a journal because i can go back into it and see my own timeline and so can others, via my substack web page. I'm not really using it to reach new people or my followers, but it has a small effect in that area as well. There are plenty of smaller writings in there that i dont want to clog up anyones inbox with.
I love the idea of our creativity and sense of self being so big it expands beyond the realm we thought was possible. I think about the greatest songs and how they weren't written for an audience, they were written because the artist couldn't contain them anymore. And they answer questions the listener didn't know they even had but are so glad they found the answer. I know when I hear or see something great I can't contain it. I put it on a playlist, send it to a friend, or play it so loud in the car the car next to me asks, "Hey, what song is that?"
I'm really happy to have found this community, thank you 💚 One thing I worry about how to do this remotely, and mainly online as I work in english, but live in the mountains in spain. So physical local community for my work isn't really an option. I guess working on my website is the answer... and creating netwoeks online and 'back home' in the UK when I'm there... would love to hear from anyone in a similar situation.
Oh, online community is still community, for sure! But doing so in a space not run by algorithms and techbro policies... so like, small Zoom groups are LOVELY, and Discords (old school message boards can work, too).
I just cried a little 🥹 thinking of ALL.THE. WASTED.TIME. I was drafting my 1st email newsletter in almost 4 months last night. I am going to have links to various places on my website, including my blog. I want my readers to look forward to getting them. I would much rather correspond to my 43 subscribers. Goal for February: 1 email newsletter/week and 2 blog posts.
43 subscribers! Those are YOUR subscribers, embrace them! And heck yes... I love writing on my blog, and they sometimes become their own newsletter, or I just link to them from the email here and there. You're doing great!
I really like the idea of using Notes as its own ‘thing’. I came across a writer who doesn’t have a publication, they only write on Notes, which I thought was a brilliant subversion of the Substack model. Kinda like when writers published their books in snippets on twitter, back in the good old days. Love it when we don’t conform to what any body tells us but we find our own way.
The internet is a cursed room. Feel free to put your work up.
I hate it here and I'm going for a walk.
I've come to realize that the transient nature of most "social" platforms bothers me a great deal (and yes, I have to include Substack and Bluesky in that category; they're great now, but so were Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, etc. once upon a time).
All the time I spent on Twitter, all gone when I decided to run screaming from the impending toxic radioactive dumpster fire. I don't care about the actual content, but the time spent on it? Ugh. Instagram is likely going to follow. Fortunately I never got much traction there, guess the algorithm punished me for the sin of not engaging and posting all the time. But still the time spent making those posts...it wasn't zero. I could have done something meaningful with that time, and I did not.
So, if I'm sinking my often limited free time into anything, it should be something I know will stick around and that I care deeply about.
I used to blog, and since those posts all exist as files under my direct control that can be hosted just about anywhere, using a domain I've owned since the 1990s, they're still up online, all the way back to the first one in 2009 (the site prior to then is gone, but that was my choice).
Goals for this year include tangible output, like a zine or two maybe, but also making sure my online presence is more robust than a corner of someone else's platform.
There are no guarantees that a great platform that's not under your own control will remain great, or even continue to exist at all, in the future.
Being new to Substack, I have no idea what I’m doing, I’m still trying to figure it out, but I’ve really enjoyed and been inspired by your page. Posts like this give me so much creative energy. Thank you for the work you do!
great POV. thank you for sharing.
I was just thinking about you today..wondering where you are or are up to...but also wondering if the algorithm shifted and I just don't see your thought provocations any more?
I'll tell you that I am listening and taking up this effort with a new personal site. But it's a struggle to decide about what to do when all of the audience is here and it's very lonely over there. After so many announcements over 2-3 weeks, 2 people showed up on the new site from here. That comes through as a complete loss of momentum and running back over here to stay connected.
There's something I think and talk about a lot...about how communication and dialogue is a two-way street but we put most or all of the ownership of whether it happens or not on the writer / messenger while the reader / recipient gets to dismiss / avoid / never respond. In real-world conversation, we would consider this rude behavior...but it is OK in the digital world. It started with email at work but it's only become worse with social media.
I kidded last week in a related note or post that a may've we need to set up "blog-crawls" for people starting new personal sites again?
Anyway, great thoughts and perceiving a lot of motivation from your words here.
This is so good, Seth - and so soothing to read! I deffo wanna think more about making things more tangible in my day-to-day, for myself as much as anyone else. The 'messages on beaches' pattern (which is the perfect description of it) can leave me feeling like my entire job and creative output is just made-up/ephemeral/not real... and that's a definite energy sap! Tangible things, events and connections have so much more substance and meaning, they deserve prioritising. Thank you for the reminder 🙌
So glad this resonated with you! "NOT REAL" is right -- it's just... GONE! I think of all the Tweets I posted from 2006-2023 and they're all just GONE. I could have written a book with those words haha
I largely agree, however i use my notes feed as a journal because i can go back into it and see my own timeline and so can others, via my substack web page. I'm not really using it to reach new people or my followers, but it has a small effect in that area as well. There are plenty of smaller writings in there that i dont want to clog up anyones inbox with.
I love the idea of our creativity and sense of self being so big it expands beyond the realm we thought was possible. I think about the greatest songs and how they weren't written for an audience, they were written because the artist couldn't contain them anymore. And they answer questions the listener didn't know they even had but are so glad they found the answer. I know when I hear or see something great I can't contain it. I put it on a playlist, send it to a friend, or play it so loud in the car the car next to me asks, "Hey, what song is that?"
Yes yes yes - and it takes a minute to get to that spot. Made easier when we're not spinning our wheels chasing 12 "likes" haha
Beautiful Seth 🥂👏🏻
thank you, Zach!
I'm really happy to have found this community, thank you 💚 One thing I worry about how to do this remotely, and mainly online as I work in english, but live in the mountains in spain. So physical local community for my work isn't really an option. I guess working on my website is the answer... and creating netwoeks online and 'back home' in the UK when I'm there... would love to hear from anyone in a similar situation.
Oh, online community is still community, for sure! But doing so in a space not run by algorithms and techbro policies... so like, small Zoom groups are LOVELY, and Discords (old school message boards can work, too).
Thanks for the encouragement 😊
I see you'll be joining us on Thursday! Excited for you to meet the community we've got here :)
Me too 🤗
I just cried a little 🥹 thinking of ALL.THE. WASTED.TIME. I was drafting my 1st email newsletter in almost 4 months last night. I am going to have links to various places on my website, including my blog. I want my readers to look forward to getting them. I would much rather correspond to my 43 subscribers. Goal for February: 1 email newsletter/week and 2 blog posts.
43 subscribers! Those are YOUR subscribers, embrace them! And heck yes... I love writing on my blog, and they sometimes become their own newsletter, or I just link to them from the email here and there. You're doing great!
Thanks Seth!
I really like the idea of using Notes as its own ‘thing’. I came across a writer who doesn’t have a publication, they only write on Notes, which I thought was a brilliant subversion of the Substack model. Kinda like when writers published their books in snippets on twitter, back in the good old days. Love it when we don’t conform to what any body tells us but we find our own way.