Why Platforms Do Platform Things

Every so often, when I ask myself — why do I make such an effort to maintain my homestead on the internet and manage my newsletter? The answer bubbles up every so often when a social media platform manages to jerk its users around.

The latest brouhaha around Substack is like yet another Marvel movie sequel—a repeat of the old formula. Indie writers got jerked around by Medium so often that it didn’t even matter. Why do “creatives” forget that the platform exists for one reason—the platform’s overall growth and viability?

The Substack founders are staying true to form — trying to save/grow their business. They have to grow in order to raise their next round of funding. If they don’t, then it’s lights out. Regardless, taking them at face value, especially after Facebook and Medium, and their changing strategies, is perhaps the first deadly sin.

And why do platforms get away with it? Because all media – Old, New, Nouveau! Podcasts, Newsletters, and Streaming need growth. Organic growth is slow and measured. In our hair-trigger attention world, that is not an option. The platforms provide them an opportunity to grow fast.

That is the reason why everyone still is sucking at the teat of big social — Facebook didn’t become clean overnight. No one has left X — all of them are still hanging about, looking for any kind of attention that can lead to growth in revenues – ads or subs. So when platforms come calling, they are quick to sign on the dotted line.

It wasn’t too long ago that we saw the same script enacted on Facebook—massive growth for big media, but also for others who are not big media. There was a lot of hand-wringing then—and it wasn’t too different from what we are seeing over Substack and its policies. The hard questions which are being asked today should have been asked then. Right?

The Platformer, like many others, did get extra subscribers and growth from the same Substack network. The growth hacks helped boost their presence as much as they did for others. When I read the Platformer leaving Substack story, where were the hard questions when the publication was gaining subscriptions and benefiting from the new growth hacks introduced by Substack? So what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

On the upside, leaving newsletters is taking the extra subscribers they got from the Substack Network Boost to a new home!

I guess that’s one way to stick it to the platforms!

Addendum (01/13/2024)

* Dave Winer was right when back in 2022 he pointed out that Substack is not interoperable. My translation: it worked like any other social media platform, and nothing like an open Internet platform.

* The Substack writing community has not learned the old fashioned art of growth: linking, and creating a conversation through links. I hope the move to new platforms such as Ghost will lead to better “communication” through creative work.

January 12, 2024