🌻 Substack Notes is social note taking

When Substack Notes launched, there was a buzz of excitement or scepticism. Either reaction is perfectly justifiable. 😅

The launch came at a time when it was directly compared to Twitter. At first, I thought it was a competition to Twitter, but more niche, for writers.

But now I see it as a social notetaking tool. Or perhaps social highlighting. Or maybe just a way to note take for yourself whilst leaning into the art of citing people within your community.

Those that know me know that I love all things note taking, curation and learning in a self-directed and community way. I can come here, highlight and cite sources to help connect people with other ideas. I find this interesting and powerful.

Especially when we compare it to the threadbois of Twitter. I’d opt to highlight other people’s work over trying to look smart myself. Change comes with diversity of thought and people.

Encouraging a culture of sharing of other people’s work is what I remember from my early days of the web and I’ve been feeling pretty down recently that this culture is increasingly lost.

I take (Substack) notes, share other people’s work and scroll Substack notes to see what people are thinking. Then things start to feel better again.

Is Substack a perfect solution? Definitely not. I still share and take notes in different locations. I struggle with the closed platform aspect too. (I’m still a big Ghost fan and customer). But I also like to highlight the positives of these platforms, for better or worse.