Substack stated today that it is revamping its peer-to-peer recommendation mechanism. Substack now lets authors choose and distribute a list of publications for their readers to subscribe to, helping other writers reach more readers and followers.
The business writes in a blog post that the shift marks a move away from “centralized discovery and control” in social media. Substack encourages authors to promote other writers to their subscribers, creating a peer-to-peer recommendation system that grows audiences. Most social media networks employ algorithms for recommendation systems, whereas Substack lets authors design their own.
Substack subscribers may now opt in to a bundle of people to follow based on the writer’s suggestions. This screen used to display three of the writer’s recommended books. Now, readers may view as many publications and profiles as the writer wishes to suggest.
After selecting or unselecting persons or publications, readers’ feeds will contain notes and postings from that network.
Substack believes the upgrade will help authors reach more people and help readers create a worldview, building goodwill amongst writers. The platform will show authors how many subscribers and followers they’ve generated for their network.
The business claims platform suggestions generate 50% of new subscriptions and 25% of premium subscriptions. Substack says early data demonstrates that its suggestions improve publishing, user subscriptions, and following.
Today, Substack revealed that more than three million readers subscribe to its premium newsletters, up from two million a year earlier.
Substack, which wants to build its recommendation system, started the year controversially by not banning Nazi publications. Despite banning “incitements to violence,” Substack CEO Hamish McKenzie stated it would maintain a “decentralized approach to content moderation.” This position caused Casey Newton and Ryan Broderick to depart Substack.
Writers may now construct a ‘network’ of suggested articles for Substack users.
