Since announcing its chat feature last November, Substack has been hoping to capitalize on Twitter’s turmoil in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover. However, with Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp already dominating the chat market, it seems like Substack may have bitten off more than it can chew.
Substack is continuing to increase its controls surrounding who can start new conversations in the platform by allowing publishers to choose who their subscribers are. This allows for more personalized conversation experiences for each individual user, as well as increased security and safety.
Chat, the new features of Substack, give users more opportunities to participate in conversations from any device and make it easier for subscribers to have a more active role in the community. It is also beneficial for those who prefer keyboard-based communication over touchscreen use, making Substack more of a place to socialize with friends who share similar interests.
If you’re a writer who’s hosted two or more chats on Substack, you’re earning an extra 19% in annual revenue. That’s because those who are successful with Substack are consistently reaching out to new writers and helping them build their businesses. Hosting a chat on Substack is an easy way to start building your audience and generate profits. So if you’re looking for a way to get started building your audience and monetizing your work, sign up for a chat today!
Substack is built to make it easier for writers to connect with readers, and enable both groups to interact more easily and deeply. With Chat, Substack is not only taking on Twitter, where many back-and-forth threaded discussions between writers and readers already take place, but also other online communities where writers have been building out networks of their own, like Discord, Slack and Telegram. By linking these friends-of-friends networks together in one app, Substack will help both writer and reader find each other more easily than ever before.
Private Substracks give readers more opportunities to consume posts from an author, as opposed to simply following their account. This could be good news for authors who want to increase their followership on Twitter but are shy about posting everything they create. Additionally, the addition of Private Substacks indicates that Substack is inching closer towards competing with Twitter on a feature level.
