Join me on Notes
Substack launches a Twitter competitor.
I have started using Substack Notes — you can now join me there.
Notes seems to be essentially Substack’s direct competitor to Twitter.
With Twitter becoming increasingly strange and arbitrary under the rule of petty tyrant Elon Musk (and with Musk telling the BBC last night that owning Twitter has been “painful” and that he would sell it if the right person came along) it seems that Substack is betting on a coming implosion of Twitter — and being there to pick up the pieces.
Twitter has always had an arbitrary and censorious streak. As a US company, it has always cooperated with the FBI and other US deep state entities in order to chill and suppress critical free speech.
Since I joined Twitter way back in 2009, I’ve built a big following there — almost 70,000 followers. I’m not about to abandon that any time soon.
Yet one of the main reasons I set up this Substack two years ago was to build up an audience for my journalism on an alternative platform, in preparation for a possible future in which Twitter was taken away from me.
That possible future is starting to look more and more likely — albeit in a way I had not expected: Twitter collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions.
My Substack newsletter has been a success, thanks to all of you, my subscribers — and especially those of you who pay me to write it.
Notes looks like a promising new platform. Whether it will achieve anything like the success of Twitter, only time will tell. But I’ve now started publishing short Tweet-like posts (it looks like “stacks” is the preferred nomenclature) here on Notes too.
Here’s the blurb from Substack (its a template written in “my” voice):
Substack Notes
Notes is a new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I plan to use it for things that don’t fit in the newsletter, like work-in-progress or quick questions.
How to join
Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber to Palestine is Still the Issue, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around!
You can also share notes of your own. I hope this becomes a space where every reader of Palestine is Still the Issue can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things we're reading on Substack and beyond.
If you encounter any issues, you can always refer to the Notes FAQ for assistance. Looking forward to seeing you there!