Why You Should Be Excited about Video
Substack is Not Pivoting to Video
An Influx of New Users
I’ve seen several people express concern, dismay, and even confusion about the newly announced improvements to the already existing video feature. Video has existed on Substack for a while now. It’s not new. It’s just better. And yet, some have even gone so far as to decry these newly announced improvements (to an established feature) as the moment Substack has abandoned the primacy of text and pivoted to video.
That’s not what’s happening.
I understand the fear. I have a strong and pronounced preference for text as well. It’s much for me to scan a few thousand words rather than being held hostage by a 15 minute video. We’ve all had the experience where we’re just trying to figure out how to fix a light switch or a plumbing issue and we’re resorted to YouTube. Inevitably, you to wait for the speaker to get to the point or you scrub through the video stopping at random points hoping to stumble into the information you want. Let’s face it: text is better.
Well, it’s better for people who are inclined to text. Not everyone is though. Substack wants to help individuals who create and consume non-text content, but is this a cause for alarm? Perhaps it’s worth taking a step back to understand the goals and maybe even see the opportunity that these changes could bring.
The glory of Notes is that it is currently the best vehicle for newsletter discovery. If you want your subscriber numbers to tick up, get out there and start meeting new people. Leave comments on someone else’s post, yada, yada… we’ve all heard it before.
But, you know what? Notes ain’t big. If you spend much time there you’re going to start bumping into the same core group of people over and over. Some of that is just the nature of how Substack controls what content you see, but a lot of it has to do with the size of your interest graph.
If you’ve put in the effort to build out your network here, you’re probably already speaking to the group who shares your interest. Video and similar features provide a way to increase the size of your potential network because they appeal to a larger demographic than text alone.
Not A Pivot to Video
This doesn’t mean text is being deprecated or diminished. It doesn’t mean that all of us should start making vlogs (such an ungainly word). It means your pool of potential readers could increase and maybe increase dramatically as more people begin to use Substack.
Video is a big funnel that will attract new creators from established platforms. Those creators, in turn, will try to bring their audiences with them. Some members of that audience will begin to use Notes and may very well discover you or your newsletter. Don’t view the introduction of new features (or the improvement existing ones) as a threat. Addition rarely means destruction. They aren’t taking anything away. They are offering better and more optimized tools for an existing feature.
Targeting Patreon?
Let’s think about what’s really going on. For some time now, Substack has quietly been launching features that compete, attack, or surpass many of the core competencies that have made Patreon such an innovator in this industry.
Patreon has become entrenched. They have scale. They have legacy. They have name recognition. Patreon is understood to be the go to place for creators to monetize content— any type of content. Substack is where you go to monetize newsletters, but could it be more?
My Amazon Experience
I’d like to take you back to my younger days during the waning years of the 20th century. We are on the cusp of a new millennium. Fears about the Y2K problem are just beginning to percolate. I’m a newlywed.
Barnes and Noble is aggressively expanding across the United States. They are opening massive warehouse-sized stores devoted to selling books. Not music. Not video. No toys or games. It’s a bookstore. The size of their physical footprint affords them so much warehouse space that they quickly become the first choice among readers.
B. Dalton Books and Waldenbooks, once the titans of the book industry, lingered for another decade but only as mere specters of what they had once been. Eventually they fell and are no more.
I loved going into Barnes and Noble. There was just so much to read and discover, but the thing about discovery is that it always leaves you hungering to learn something new… to discover yet one more thing. And that’s an area where B&N failed me.
Repeated instances of being told that they didn’t have a book in stock or that they would have to order a title for me, led me to make one of my very first online purchases.
I launched Netscape Navigator, loaded Alta Vista, and did a search for the website. In the search box, I typed a single word: Amazon. Eventually, after I scrolled past references to the Amazon rain forest and the Amazon river, I found the link to the online bookstore. I clicked it and this popped up.
Amazon had the book in stock and I could get it by the end of the week (a week earlier than what Barnes and Noble was offering). Amazon even offered the option of paying an additional six dollars to have FedEx get it to me in two days, but I wasn’t made out of money. I still have that book today.
Imagine my shock just a few short years later when Amazon began to offer things other than books. I really was outraged and wondered if this change meant that I was going to lose my favorite book retailer, but you know what? They are still just as happy to sell me books today as they were back then. And they’ve even improved upon my experience because now many of the books are available without any waiting at all. I can start reading as soon as I finish the ordering process. They even allow me to buy audio books where someone else will do all the hard work of reading it to me if that’s my preference.
You probably know where I’m going with this and you’re right. I think Substack is trying to pull off a similar transition. It’s not that they have decided to stop focusing on newsletters; it’s that they want to offer additional products alongside newsletters.
The Real Pivot: a Creation Platform
We are not seeing a pivot to video. We are seeing the first steps to being something more than just a newsletter hosting site.
Substack is where you go to monetize newsletters, but could it be more?
Amazon started off by billing itself as The Earth’s Biggest Bookstore. Their relentless focus on making their customers happy caused them to grow beyond selling books alone. They began to offer new products and that expansion has allowed them to transition from being the Biggest Bookstore to being The Everything Store.
What will Substack become? Only time will tell, but all of their focus seems to be on helping creators best connect with their audiences… and, I think that’s a good thing.
WELL SAID!
As a visual artist who occasionally dabble in writing I feel that video can enhance our visibility along with adding some personalized touch and transparency.
Also as an art teacher I feel that showing is better than telling.