In Sidebar I discuss current news and related topics. These are separate from the weekly Of Interest investigative pieces.
It was only four short months ago that Elon Musk, Twitter CEO by obligation rather than choice, shuttered the social network’s native newsletter platform Revue.
Twitter acquired Revue in early 2021 but the decision to axe it felt (at the time and especially in light of recent events) hasty. Revue wasn’t changing the world by any means, but it was an easy and straightforward way for journalists, writers, and thinkers to share their work with their followers. But Musk was desperate to make his mark on Twitter after completing its acquisition just a month earlier and, whether he believed it or not, he took the stance that Revue wasn’t worth the trouble.
Unsurprisingly, Revue publishers flocked to Substack, which has been steadily growing in both volume and voice for the past half-decade. At the same time, Musk openly pondered acquiring Substack.
Fast forward to yesterday, April 7th, 2023. Twitter began blocking interactions with tweets that linked to Substack newsletters. You can’t retweet, like, or comment on offending tweets. Users who used a custom domain as their Substack landing pages appear to be spared (for now).
Via Musk’s hand-picked Twitter Files author Matt Taibbi — who amassed a considerable following as the primary writer behind Elon’s effort to implicate Twitter’s previous management in censorship efforts — we learned that Twitter (read: Elon Musk) was upset that Substack announced a new short-form micro-blogging tool called Notes, which is set to launch in the coming week.
Taibbi also announced he’d stop using Twitter. Musk unfollowed Taibbi in retaliation.
I’m not breaking any ground here by stating the obvious but I feel the need to say it anyway: Musk’s strategy here is deeply flawed, and it’s hard to imagine a scenario where these moves are a net positive for Twitter users or the company.
There are really only two things Musk might have in mind right now:
Killing Substack
Blocking links to Substack generated a lot of negative press for Twitter and positive press for Substack. Substack is likely enjoying a boost, albeit temporary, in light of all the attention. If Musk’s long-term plan is to continue to block interactions with Substack links, it could hurt newsletter writers and the platform.
It’s highly unlikely that Substack would fold as a result of any of this. The launch of Substack Notes is also unlikely to kill Twitter, but at a time when so many users, especially journalists, are looking for an alternative, it’s not a stretch to imagine they’ll try to bring as many of their followers over to Notes as possible.
Devaluing Substack
Musk might not have to kill Substack in order to win this war. His plan might be to hinder (or reverse) its growth long enough that the company would consider selling to him.
This is also highly unlikely, as Substack just launched a user-backed fundraising round and appears to be gaining momentum, not losing it. I have to imagine that the Substack founders, who have been incredibly outspoken about their vision for the platform and critical of Musk’s moves, would rather sell to literally anyone else, even in a worst-case scenario where they needed to offload (again, this isn’t close to happening).
The obvious issue with Musk’s decision to feud with Substack is that Twitter isn’t a destination.
What I mean by that is that Twitter is a place where you go to learn what else is going on in the world and online, and you follow those threads off of the site. When you reach the end of each thread, you come back. It’s an avenue for discovery, and for many — especially younger users — it replaces search engines.
Eliminate the ability to discover things on Twitter and it ceases to be useful. Musk already fired a volley at news outlets and journalists with the verification kerfuffle but is now directly targeting destination sites in an effort to keep users within Twitter’s walls, like beams of light bouncing off a hall of mirrors.
This fundamental misunderstanding of Twitter’s role, and what users like (or liked) about it is the single greatest threat to its continued existence. The pilot of the Twitter ship appears to have no clue that this is the case.
As for Substack, the only thing to do is stay the course.
Journalists and authors already use the service and will continue to do so regardless of how restrictive Twitter becomes. Using Notes, they’ll foster new communities that may not be as publicly exposed as they were on Twitter, but as Substack has already proven, eliminating the kinds of artificial connections that Twitter thrives on can be a very good thing.
Agree that walled gardens run counter to the internet ethos and are damaging to it. I'm reminded again of this timeless 6-second gem from Star Wars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wntX-a3jSY
I found your work yesterday. Happy to be here.