Substack is throwing the gates wide open, inviting every aspiring hack, wannabe influencer, and attention-seeking provocateur to join the party on their platform. The latest announcement allows anyone to publish content without setting up a publication, and the consequences will be catastrophic. Prepare for a deluge of low-brow clickbait, insipid opinion pieces, and cringeworthy attempts at humor. It’s like a digital dumpster fire, and we’re all invited to gather ’round and gaze upon its magnificence.
And why not? Substack is now a social network, just like Twitter, but without the pretensions of being a “platform for ideas” or a “space for free speech.” No, this is a platform for the loudest, most obnoxious voices to be amplified and rewarded with likes, follows, and, of course, subscriptions. Welcome to the Wild West of internet discourse, where the only rules are “be loud and annoying” and “make me angry.”
Now, you can share your mediocre writing, embarrassing videos, or cringeworthy audio podcasts with the world, and collect those sweet, sweet subscription dollars from suckers… er, fans. Your Substack profile is now a free-for-all, where you can share anything and everything, and people will either love you or hate you for it. And if you decide to create a newsletter, you can do so with the knowledge that you’re essentially selling your soul to the attention gods.
But hey, Substack is all about innovation and making their platform more mobile-friendly. So, you can now draft and publish new posts directly from your phone, because nothing says “quality content” like hastily written, typo-ridden diatribes typed out on a tiny keyboard. And if you’re lucky, you might even get some of that sweet, sweet monetization magic happening. Just ask the legions of YouTube creators who make a living off of playing games and eating Cheetos.
The writing (pun intended) is on the wall – Substack is abandoning its roots as a newsletter platform and embracing its true form as a social media dumpster fire. When Twitter went down the toilet, Substack saw an opportunity to swoop in and capitalize on the chaos. And now, they’re reaping the whirlwind of mediocrity, noise, and clickbait that is modern internet culture. Welcome to the Substack dumpster fire, where the only thing more abundant than the hatred and vitriol is the number of people who will mindlessly consume it all.
