The journalism metric that matters is how many citizens dissident authors reach. Substack is a work-around used by independent authors trying to reach enough citizens to slay bogus narratives.
I've been monitoring Robert Reich's subscriber growth since January 7 (through yesterday).
In those 24 days, Reich's total subscriber numbers increased from 517,900+ to 642,900+ - an increase of 125,000 subscribers in 24 days. Reich is averaging adding 5,208 subscribers every day.
I've been doing the same analysis with new Substack author Paul Krugman.
On January 23rd, Kruguman wrote that he had "just passed 119,000 subscribers."
Yesterday, Krugman had 156,900+ subscribers - an increase of approximately 38,000 subscribers in eight days. Krugman is adding 4,738 subscribers every day.
Again, for context, I've been adding 4 to 5 subscribers per day.
I suspect they want statist authors to have such large subscriber NUMBERS that when they start to promote substack the top ten writers will all be plants and newcomers will no ever realise there are real dissident writers on substack and will think the top ten puppets are the dissidents they came here for.
As you and I both know, those "new" subscribers may not be real people. My little test yesterday (or Thursday?) proved to me that some of these subscribers are using bogus emails, and in many cases have not even opened an issue since subscribing.
Cutting-room floor text that I think is telling or illustrates today's point:
In late March 2022 - when I had been publishing this newsletter for six months, I already had 3,155 subscribers.
I averaged the number of "page views" four columns generated around March 24, 2022. Those articles averaged 3,358 "page views."
Thus, my articles were being READ by more people than I had as subscribers.
Today, 22 months later, I now have about 7,100 subscribers. However, my last four articles generated only 4,360 page views.
My "read percentage" as a fraction of my total subscribers is now 61.4 percent ... where it used to be a positive ratio of about 1.1.
My subscriber numbers are still going up (albeit at a rate that's dramatically slower) ... but my more-important "read numbers" are declining at much greater rate.
I added 4,000 subscribers in approximately two years but only increased my number of story reads by about 1,000 ... which is odd to me.
Maybe like me, many people read the article in their email. Until this article, I didn't realize this method I had been using, apparently doesn't show the article as 'read' by subscribers.
I also noticed Substack promotes liberal authors in their Substack recommended reads.
So it is not surprising other non partisan, or conservative substacks aren't growing as much. Your articles are always well written and appreciated.
You just answered a question for me NMM, and I sometimes do the same thing. When reading the article from the email you only go to the Substack site if you "like" or make a comment. I wondered if going to the site to do those things made a difference and now you are saying that it does, it then counts it as a "read article".
The reason I was wondering is that I have several people on my subscriber list that are "5-star readers" according to activity rate, but when I open up their profile their reading % is sometimes around 20-50%. That didn't make sense until now.
All these metrics are a bit screwy and not real clear.
There are two explanations, one is already covered (people read it via email), the other is your smart subscribers are one step ahead of you and have already figured out what you are saying and do not need to read the details supplied by you.
Bill, I hear what you are saying & concerned about.
However, the election results & the unhinged response of the Dims & their equally unhinged supporters are actually revealing.
Krugman & Reich (like Acosta) appeal to a very narrow band that is not likely to grow in numbers (though in subscribers, perhaps). K & R are not convincing anyone new, IMHO. They are from failed & failing entities.
I don’t know what the powers behind SubStack are plotting, but I think we are on the flood tide & they will recognize that & should understand that to resist too strongly will have them go the way of the Edsel.
I think Substack - or the people who might be attacking contrarian authors on Substack - might have a 2-pronged strategy. Suppress the reach and growth of the Contrarian authors while promoting or inflating the growth of the liberal and Status Quo promoting authors.
The explosive growth of the liberal writers began well before the election, but I guess it's ramped up after the election, purportedly because so many liberals are terrified of Trump and are now ... flocking to Substack.
Questions:
What was wrong with the MSM's daily attacks of MAGA and the daily defenses of the authorized narratives?
Also, if MAGA supporters are so huge in numbers ... why aren't more of these people also discovering Substack?
Many MAGA folks are just trying to keep their heads above water to counter the disaster of the last years. Look at that red map after the election. They voted. They saw SOMETHING, even if it wasn’t substack.
There are so many choices today. Podcasts, contrarian streaming news/analysis/commentary sites & apps, social platforms, websites/independent blogs, video platforms…While these alternatives previously existed, they blossomed when in January 2021 Parler was taken down completely by Amazon’s back-end hosting; and Twitter and Facebook shut down accounts en masse (Bongino asked, are we going to have to start speaking in code? Well, a lot of us did). Until that month, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook had the lion’s share of eyes and ears. Now, Contrarians and MAGA have many options, so many it’s a challenge to keep up.
Substack is one important platform in an ecosystem of options for seekers of more truthful - or less pretending - information and commentary. It’s one place where I am far less concerned about what I say.
We seem to have a short respite from the American Gestapo, I have no doubt they are regrouping and will attack more viciously than ever. When, IDK. Meantime, we shore each other up, encourage each other, and keep speaking. Remember what “inalienable” means.
You, Bill, have a unique voice, in that you study trends by the facts and numbers, analyze these trends, and tell us what you see. Please keep doing that!
Maybe I just noticed more of the non contrarian authors and posters in my feed after the election, but also Substack started really dropping my subscriptions and follows around the same time. Maybe AI in the algorithm has been ramped up?
Remind your list of dissident writers to periodically save their member lists. Also everyone might want to send out a post that they might have to contact them if they leave the platform to notify them of their new platform via direct email if they can no longer access their platform.
Of course. Still, Substack is also full of "bogus narratives," although red herrings, limited hangouts, bait-and-switch, and compartmentalization tend to prevail. The last one I call "the stupidity meter" to check for the "stupidity index"! :)
Hi Bill, thank you for covering this important topic. I didn't think freedom of reach was as much of a problem on Substack, but I stand corrected.
I don't think I am affected on Substack as I am on X. I now have about 6.4K subscribers and my last article (on the Trudeaus) actually raked in about 9.2k views which is way more than my number of subs. (the previous ones were 4.1k and 3.6k which is reasonable), these excluding my podcast.
On X, however I know I am sharply shadow-banned / raped a la 'freedom of reach' (as per WEF-acolyte Yaccarino) as they will never let me get above my petty 1,600 followers mark. Though some of my peers (Johnny Vedmore & SGTReport) have greater follower counts, they are also throttle as their # of followers never grow; plus, I am sure that many of their posts don't appear on their followers' feeds (like is the case with mine). So, this really p*sses me off.
Accordingly, Elon & Yacc are a HUGE part of this Censorship Industrial Complex (CIC) and I am 100% certain that their AI algos play into this. I lived 13 years in China and know about state-level censorship and what Elon is doing (keep in mind he wants to create an X all-encompassing App like Wechat in China - see https://fournier.substack.com/p/elon-musks-x-empire-building-a-trojan), I am 100% certain he is doing this too. My last two years in China I taught at the very company that makes Wechat (Tencent) in various departments including AI, Big Data, and Weixin (Wechat), among many others and I know intimately how they go about doing this kind of stuff. I have no doubt in my mind that Elon and his X engineers are replicating these censorship mechanisms. Anyone who doesn't think this is happening, is being very naive and blind, imo.
I have completely stopped watching or reading any mainstream news for over 5 years Absolutely nothing they say has any truth or integrity to it. As well as the fact that any true journalist wasn’t even allowed to report anything that was objective to other sources, This holds true to all the Medical community that lost there jobs as well. As much as this has turned all our lives around … I think it’s been a good thing and hopefully we will all have the Freedom to speak and choose what is best for each of us… I am internally Grateful for everyone who STOOD with COURAGE for what they believed was best for not only themselves but for Humanity.. What’s taking place now has simply got to STOP . WE MUST STAND UP
Peebo Preboskenes raised an interesting anomaly in this note, https://substack.com/@wiseguyfromwayback/note/c-90268834. Leftist substackers somehow get better metrics on Substack than they do on mainstream television, which doesn't seem plausible. Seems like there's more astroturfing on Substack than there is in the Astrodome.
These digital platforms all have an agenda. And nobody knows how to work their systems better than they do. Amazon is the king but they all do it. Here is an article with some insight on one of the tricks being used by Spotify.
For at least a month or more, I haven't gotten most of the substackers I subscribe to. I also read in my email but open Substack for reading the comments. I have noticed the same thing on X. I have to go looking for those I want to read or even those I have a paid subscription to.
why is SUBSTACK promoting only centrist - liberal - left writers?.... Trump won the election, now SUBSTACK needs a "new crop" of "outrage" to perpetuate it's business model.
I'd like to add my recent "experiences" with Substack. First, I receive all articles through e-mail. I do not like loading Apps onto my phone. It is the only "computer" I have and I do not wish to slow it down with extraneous things I do not need or want.
Last week I received a column from someone I was not subscribed to and had never heard of. I read part of it. It was boring and far left leaning. I had to "unsubscribe" to get rid of it, though I had never subscribed.
This week, on Wednesday, IIRC, I came to my email, opened an article and read it. I pushed the "Like" button and an horrible, orange, whole page banner came up, before opening to the comment section. It showed 1 comment for me to read. The comment counter showed double digit comments, but only this 1 comment was available to read. I was alarmed and puzzled. I thought Substack had changed their email formatting. I tried another article and the exact thing happened again. It was horrible compared to the ease of reading I was used to.
I shutdown my phone and came back to see if that rectified the problems. It had not.
I started looking on other screens and found that Substack had downloaded their app onto my phone without notice or permission. Needless to say, I deleted it!
I don't know how anyone can stand that clunky, hard to navigate app!
Has anyone else experienced anything like this recently?
What I have found is that if I subscribe to a particular substack, two banners pop up at rhe bottomof rhe page: one asks if I want to post this on my account, the next asks me to subscribe to 3-5 other, "random" Substacks and "like" 30 people I don't know.
Before I started paying attention to this, I "accidentally" subscribed to a bunch of leftist Substacks (which are the people Substack apparently prefers to promote like this).
What is a "page view"? If I read an article only in email, does that count? Albeit, I usually go to the Substack Web page both for improved legibility, and to view comments. Are the stats worse if emails are deleted unopened? How does Substack know? Load some image when the email is opened?
I am also confused. I always read from my email and click like. I am then taken to the Substack page and may or may not make a comment. It sounds like my view/reading does not count....??? I most always read them.
"If my articles have no reach, I have no influence."
Exactly right!
This latest post - about Trump's "order" on 18 March 2020 and the relevant context - has very low views (and "likes" etc) compared to others. Why might that be?
I've been monitoring Robert Reich's subscriber growth since January 7 (through yesterday).
In those 24 days, Reich's total subscriber numbers increased from 517,900+ to 642,900+ - an increase of 125,000 subscribers in 24 days. Reich is averaging adding 5,208 subscribers every day.
I've been doing the same analysis with new Substack author Paul Krugman.
On January 23rd, Kruguman wrote that he had "just passed 119,000 subscribers."
Yesterday, Krugman had 156,900+ subscribers - an increase of approximately 38,000 subscribers in eight days. Krugman is adding 4,738 subscribers every day.
Again, for context, I've been adding 4 to 5 subscribers per day.
I suspect they want statist authors to have such large subscriber NUMBERS that when they start to promote substack the top ten writers will all be plants and newcomers will no ever realise there are real dissident writers on substack and will think the top ten puppets are the dissidents they came here for.
As you and I both know, those "new" subscribers may not be real people. My little test yesterday (or Thursday?) proved to me that some of these subscribers are using bogus emails, and in many cases have not even opened an issue since subscribing.
And how about featured writer Eric Topol(otron)?
Cutting-room floor text that I think is telling or illustrates today's point:
In late March 2022 - when I had been publishing this newsletter for six months, I already had 3,155 subscribers.
I averaged the number of "page views" four columns generated around March 24, 2022. Those articles averaged 3,358 "page views."
Thus, my articles were being READ by more people than I had as subscribers.
Today, 22 months later, I now have about 7,100 subscribers. However, my last four articles generated only 4,360 page views.
My "read percentage" as a fraction of my total subscribers is now 61.4 percent ... where it used to be a positive ratio of about 1.1.
My subscriber numbers are still going up (albeit at a rate that's dramatically slower) ... but my more-important "read numbers" are declining at much greater rate.
I added 4,000 subscribers in approximately two years but only increased my number of story reads by about 1,000 ... which is odd to me.
Maybe like me, many people read the article in their email. Until this article, I didn't realize this method I had been using, apparently doesn't show the article as 'read' by subscribers.
I also noticed Substack promotes liberal authors in their Substack recommended reads.
So it is not surprising other non partisan, or conservative substacks aren't growing as much. Your articles are always well written and appreciated.
Same…I have been reading the articles in the reading panel of my email and not opening the page.
You just answered a question for me NMM, and I sometimes do the same thing. When reading the article from the email you only go to the Substack site if you "like" or make a comment. I wondered if going to the site to do those things made a difference and now you are saying that it does, it then counts it as a "read article".
The reason I was wondering is that I have several people on my subscriber list that are "5-star readers" according to activity rate, but when I open up their profile their reading % is sometimes around 20-50%. That didn't make sense until now.
All these metrics are a bit screwy and not real clear.
There are two explanations, one is already covered (people read it via email), the other is your smart subscribers are one step ahead of you and have already figured out what you are saying and do not need to read the details supplied by you.
Warren & Sanders, what a pair!
Bill, I hear what you are saying & concerned about.
However, the election results & the unhinged response of the Dims & their equally unhinged supporters are actually revealing.
Krugman & Reich (like Acosta) appeal to a very narrow band that is not likely to grow in numbers (though in subscribers, perhaps). K & R are not convincing anyone new, IMHO. They are from failed & failing entities.
I don’t know what the powers behind SubStack are plotting, but I think we are on the flood tide & they will recognize that & should understand that to resist too strongly will have them go the way of the Edsel.
I think Substack - or the people who might be attacking contrarian authors on Substack - might have a 2-pronged strategy. Suppress the reach and growth of the Contrarian authors while promoting or inflating the growth of the liberal and Status Quo promoting authors.
The explosive growth of the liberal writers began well before the election, but I guess it's ramped up after the election, purportedly because so many liberals are terrified of Trump and are now ... flocking to Substack.
Questions:
What was wrong with the MSM's daily attacks of MAGA and the daily defenses of the authorized narratives?
Also, if MAGA supporters are so huge in numbers ... why aren't more of these people also discovering Substack?
Many MAGA folks are just trying to keep their heads above water to counter the disaster of the last years. Look at that red map after the election. They voted. They saw SOMETHING, even if it wasn’t substack.
We need a a lot more people on "our team" to "discover" Substack. This is how we can get around the completely captured "gatekeepers of the news."
There are so many choices today. Podcasts, contrarian streaming news/analysis/commentary sites & apps, social platforms, websites/independent blogs, video platforms…While these alternatives previously existed, they blossomed when in January 2021 Parler was taken down completely by Amazon’s back-end hosting; and Twitter and Facebook shut down accounts en masse (Bongino asked, are we going to have to start speaking in code? Well, a lot of us did). Until that month, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook had the lion’s share of eyes and ears. Now, Contrarians and MAGA have many options, so many it’s a challenge to keep up.
Substack is one important platform in an ecosystem of options for seekers of more truthful - or less pretending - information and commentary. It’s one place where I am far less concerned about what I say.
We seem to have a short respite from the American Gestapo, I have no doubt they are regrouping and will attack more viciously than ever. When, IDK. Meantime, we shore each other up, encourage each other, and keep speaking. Remember what “inalienable” means.
You, Bill, have a unique voice, in that you study trends by the facts and numbers, analyze these trends, and tell us what you see. Please keep doing that!
I meant to correct “inalienable” to “unalienable” but my finger slipped!
Everything.
Only because I am retired can I devote any time to SubStack.
I think there are more retired lefties, the voting break downs seems to suggest that .
same here. More retired lefties because they are mostly government retirees.
& there will be millions more when DOGE gets done!
Maybe I just noticed more of the non contrarian authors and posters in my feed after the election, but also Substack started really dropping my subscriptions and follows around the same time. Maybe AI in the algorithm has been ramped up?
Remind your list of dissident writers to periodically save their member lists. Also everyone might want to send out a post that they might have to contact them if they leave the platform to notify them of their new platform via direct email if they can no longer access their platform.
Of course. Still, Substack is also full of "bogus narratives," although red herrings, limited hangouts, bait-and-switch, and compartmentalization tend to prevail. The last one I call "the stupidity meter" to check for the "stupidity index"! :)
https://rayhorvaththesource.substack.com/p/the-stupidity-index-is-alive-on-substack
Hi Bill, thank you for covering this important topic. I didn't think freedom of reach was as much of a problem on Substack, but I stand corrected.
I don't think I am affected on Substack as I am on X. I now have about 6.4K subscribers and my last article (on the Trudeaus) actually raked in about 9.2k views which is way more than my number of subs. (the previous ones were 4.1k and 3.6k which is reasonable), these excluding my podcast.
On X, however I know I am sharply shadow-banned / raped a la 'freedom of reach' (as per WEF-acolyte Yaccarino) as they will never let me get above my petty 1,600 followers mark. Though some of my peers (Johnny Vedmore & SGTReport) have greater follower counts, they are also throttle as their # of followers never grow; plus, I am sure that many of their posts don't appear on their followers' feeds (like is the case with mine). So, this really p*sses me off.
Accordingly, Elon & Yacc are a HUGE part of this Censorship Industrial Complex (CIC) and I am 100% certain that their AI algos play into this. I lived 13 years in China and know about state-level censorship and what Elon is doing (keep in mind he wants to create an X all-encompassing App like Wechat in China - see https://fournier.substack.com/p/elon-musks-x-empire-building-a-trojan), I am 100% certain he is doing this too. My last two years in China I taught at the very company that makes Wechat (Tencent) in various departments including AI, Big Data, and Weixin (Wechat), among many others and I know intimately how they go about doing this kind of stuff. I have no doubt in my mind that Elon and his X engineers are replicating these censorship mechanisms. Anyone who doesn't think this is happening, is being very naive and blind, imo.
El-Ayin has full power to dismiss the Yakking Rhino and reverse her malicious acts.
They are two peas in a pod, one and the same, imo. Or, good cop (Elong) bad cop (Yakky).
I have completely stopped watching or reading any mainstream news for over 5 years Absolutely nothing they say has any truth or integrity to it. As well as the fact that any true journalist wasn’t even allowed to report anything that was objective to other sources, This holds true to all the Medical community that lost there jobs as well. As much as this has turned all our lives around … I think it’s been a good thing and hopefully we will all have the Freedom to speak and choose what is best for each of us… I am internally Grateful for everyone who STOOD with COURAGE for what they believed was best for not only themselves but for Humanity.. What’s taking place now has simply got to STOP . WE MUST STAND UP
Peebo Preboskenes raised an interesting anomaly in this note, https://substack.com/@wiseguyfromwayback/note/c-90268834. Leftist substackers somehow get better metrics on Substack than they do on mainstream television, which doesn't seem plausible. Seems like there's more astroturfing on Substack than there is in the Astrodome.
These digital platforms all have an agenda. And nobody knows how to work their systems better than they do. Amazon is the king but they all do it. Here is an article with some insight on one of the tricks being used by Spotify.
https://www.avclub.com/spotify-royalties-stock-music
For at least a month or more, I haven't gotten most of the substackers I subscribe to. I also read in my email but open Substack for reading the comments. I have noticed the same thing on X. I have to go looking for those I want to read or even those I have a paid subscription to.
I just read that Jim Acosta, the ex communist news network "journalist" just started a substack and has 123, 000 subscribers.
why is SUBSTACK promoting only centrist - liberal - left writers?.... Trump won the election, now SUBSTACK needs a "new crop" of "outrage" to perpetuate it's business model.
I'd like to add my recent "experiences" with Substack. First, I receive all articles through e-mail. I do not like loading Apps onto my phone. It is the only "computer" I have and I do not wish to slow it down with extraneous things I do not need or want.
Last week I received a column from someone I was not subscribed to and had never heard of. I read part of it. It was boring and far left leaning. I had to "unsubscribe" to get rid of it, though I had never subscribed.
This week, on Wednesday, IIRC, I came to my email, opened an article and read it. I pushed the "Like" button and an horrible, orange, whole page banner came up, before opening to the comment section. It showed 1 comment for me to read. The comment counter showed double digit comments, but only this 1 comment was available to read. I was alarmed and puzzled. I thought Substack had changed their email formatting. I tried another article and the exact thing happened again. It was horrible compared to the ease of reading I was used to.
I shutdown my phone and came back to see if that rectified the problems. It had not.
I started looking on other screens and found that Substack had downloaded their app onto my phone without notice or permission. Needless to say, I deleted it!
I don't know how anyone can stand that clunky, hard to navigate app!
Has anyone else experienced anything like this recently?
What I have found is that if I subscribe to a particular substack, two banners pop up at rhe bottomof rhe page: one asks if I want to post this on my account, the next asks me to subscribe to 3-5 other, "random" Substacks and "like" 30 people I don't know.
Before I started paying attention to this, I "accidentally" subscribed to a bunch of leftist Substacks (which are the people Substack apparently prefers to promote like this).
What is a "page view"? If I read an article only in email, does that count? Albeit, I usually go to the Substack Web page both for improved legibility, and to view comments. Are the stats worse if emails are deleted unopened? How does Substack know? Load some image when the email is opened?
I am also confused. I always read from my email and click like. I am then taken to the Substack page and may or may not make a comment. It sounds like my view/reading does not count....??? I most always read them.
What's your plan B Bill? Do you have one?
"If my articles have no reach, I have no influence."
Exactly right!
This latest post - about Trump's "order" on 18 March 2020 and the relevant context - has very low views (and "likes" etc) compared to others. Why might that be?
https://democracymanifest.substack.com/p/18-march-2020-trump-gave-the-order