Funny thing I noticed on Substack Notes that explains a lot about Medium

If you’ll pardon me saying so, Substack Notes feel like Twitter’s friendlier sister.

photo from pexels

Happy Friday,

Have you tried Substack Notes yet?

I kind of like them. Mostly because it’s not “yet another” site I have to go to. I’m kind of over being everywhere and I never really was.

If you’ll pardon me saying so, Substack Notes feel like Twitter’s friendlier sister. And to be fair and really upfront, I’ve posted exactly one note so far and it was to share a Medium piece I thought was pretty good. lol.

Incidentally, it wasn’t one of mine.

There’s enough of that “lookitme” stuff on Facebook.

So I figured if I’m going to post links on Notes, it will be to share the love a little, and link to good stuff that’s worth reading. I think I’ll do that more. It feels a little like being a fairy godmother and sprinkling a bit of magic on someone else who doesn’t even know I’m doing it.

Also, if you’ve never looked, notes are at substack.com/notes.

Anyway. I scroll through Notes more than I post them, and noticed an interesting thing. It kind of made me think of something I see on Medium.

It’s Friday morning and I’m only on my first cup of coffee, so let me try muddle through what I noticed. See if I can make sense yet. lol.

Under each note, you can see hearts. Okay?

Sometimes, a note has 2 hearts. Sometimes it has 98. At first I thought that had to do with the writer’s reach. But the more I watched, the more I realized how wrong that was. It’s not really about reach.

Being an analytics sort of person I first wondered if engagement had something to do with time of day. You know, like posting a post on Medium is better on Sunday morning than Saturday afternoon.

But no. The more I watched, the more I saw that’s not it. So let me illustrate what I think I’m seeing on Notes. Because I see the same on Medium, which is interesting.

Let’s pretend I just walked into a book club. Okay?

I sit down and tell everyone what I’m reading. Ask if they’ve read it and what they thought. That opens the door to conversation, right? People love to be asked what they think. Which is totally different than just telling everyone what I think.

Because when I tell everyone what *I* think, I’m giving you two options. Agree with me or disagree with me. So everyone who doesn’t like disagreements has effectively been silenced. Know what I mean?

I see that on Medium a lot. Hell, I struggle with that myself. Pretty sure I was born with strong opinions.

The issue isn’t having strong opinions, I don’t think. But I think there’s merit in looking at how we put our thoughts and opinions into the world. As in, have we left room for conversation at all? Or is there only room to agree or disagree?

There’s a world of difference between “here’s what I think” and “let’s talk about this.”

Know what I mean. And then that thought train reminded me of a little snippet of advice Leo Tolstoy said about writing…

I have found that a story leaves a deeper impression when it is impossible to tell which side the author is on. ~Leo Tolstoy

Course, that’s all based on what I see on Notes, which is based on the people I follow. Your mileage might very.

So I’m curious. I’d love to know what you’re seeing in your Notes. Besides kittens, I mean. Because the internet was pretty much made for babies and kittens.

Is there a particular type of “note” you see getting great engagement?

:)

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On Medium…

• Should We Hate Writers Who Are Nasty, Like These Famous Jerks?

• I Bought A 1966 Ladies Magazine And The Cashier Warned Me It’s Sexist

• I Asked ChatGPT How To Market A Book If I Suck At Marketing And Wow

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Thanks for reading and have a great weekend. If you enjoy my writing, please scroll down and click the heart to say thanks. :)

xo, Linda