đ Time to say goodbye to #Substack.
The whole point of having a newsletter is to control the distribution of content.
I donât know when this started, but Iâm almost certain it wasnât possible to just follow people on Substack before. I also donât know if they are promoting or stimulating the âfollowâ option, but the number of people following me without subscribing to my newsletter is increasing every day.
Below is the difference, clipped from Substacks Help Center:
Follower: Theyâll see your notes and some reading activity such as post likes. When someone follows you, you wonât receive their email, so they wonât get posts in their inbox.
Free subscriber: Theyâll subscribe to your Substack and receive free posts via email and/or the Substack app. Theyâll automatically follow you and see your notes in their feed.
In other words, if someone is following you, there is no email address, and if you want to switch services, you wonât be able to take the followers with you. Thatâs not a newsletter. Itâs social media.
In a world where more and more services are embracing to the Fediverse, Substackâs move to a closed system is mind-boggling to me. But just leaving the service wasnât enough. I had to share this information with you. So, if you have a newsletter on Substack, maybe itâs time to start to reevaluate your strategy.
Iâm not sure when Iâll be leaving, but itâs likely to happen sooner than later. For now, if you want to make sure to follow me to my next newsletter chapter and keep getting my monthly emails, please donât follow me. Subscribe.
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