And why you should be more conservative with your Likes as well
Recently, an update to Notes came to pass and this update made everybody very mad. It seemed like an innocent enough update. We could “follow” fellow Substackers via Notes (which we were already treating like the best social media platform we never dreamed could be real) instead of feeling forced to subscribe to them. Seems like a win-win idea, right? Little did we know how wrong we were.
No sooner did this innocent update roll out did we start to see immediate repercussions. Strapped to the back of the “follow” update was the “Like” insanity child. Born of a strange idea we never asked for. And if we had I am sure we all would like to take it back!
Now, instead of just seeing the fresh new ideas and questions we’ve come to love about Substack, free of ads and the other fluff we hate from other places, here we are in the land of confusion.
I see more “Likes” on my timeline than actual Notes. Sure, some are restacking instead, but I didn’t realize just how few and far between real communication was happening until the “Like” swarm hit. Now I find myself having to scroll past no less than a dozen “Like” posts before I get to something that someone actually wrote that I want to comment on. By the time this happens, I am:
Annoyed.
Fatigued.
Confused.
Over it.
That last one is the real problem, as I see it. Once I’m “over” something it typically means my brain has rewired itself to feel the previous three all at once even before I’ve encountered, or in this case opened, the app. Why do I want to feel those emotions every single time I open an app? Better to just avoid the thing altogether. It doesn’t take much for this to happen and without even realizing it I use the thing less and less till I’ve stopped using it altogether. I am nearing the stage where opening Substack to look at Notes and actively participate in that community will cease. And that bothers me on so many levels.
THIS NEVER SHOULD’VE HAPPENED
I realize this is likely a “me problem” but if you are feeling similarly, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
I’m annoyed that I should be feeling a similar way to how I felt back during my bird visit days. Five years ago I was an active twit. I was on there 24/7. Twitting and the like. Pretty soon I was fatigued by the whole notion of “twit twit twit and pray to be seen.” I had better things to do. I decided to work around the system. Surely I could make this place my own with what little controls that were available to me, right? So I went about attempting to game the system. I crafted Lists and only visited the Explore page. I did what I could but there were too many holes in the ship. Why was I wasting so much time trying to salvage what was unsalvageable? My confusion quickly led to me being over it. So over it, in fact, there be no twits on my phone and any remnants I may have acquired of it on my computer or other devices are 100% wiped clean. I AM TWIT FREE!
Fast forward to Substack Notes. A place far and away unlike any twit I’d ever encountered. A breath of fresh air. Free from pesky annoyances. I actively enjoyed spending time waist deep in the Notes of anyone and everyone who was present. And what’s more, I was never tired or drained from the time I spent in Notes because I came away either with knowledge or dropping knowledge on someone else. To help or be helped was a concept I never thought possible. It just made sense. I never wanted to leave.
WHY I’M MAKING SUCH A BIG STINK ABOUT “LIKES”
To put it simply, because I see the writing on the wall. It starts with “Likes” but before we know it, the next “update” will be couched as the best thing they could’ve done for the community but I guarantee it will come with it’s own set of challenges and confusion. Sure, I could try to live with the “Likes” issue and overlook it or allow myself to be frustrated for a time and then get that little hit of dopamine when I finally encounter a real post in Notes. I could probably suffer this way for 30min before I had to exit quickly. Is that what Substack wants? Maybe they realize we’re all spending too much time scrolling and communicating in Notes so this is their way of giving back by shouting at us to “LEAVE THIS PLACE AND GO WRITE ANOTHER EMAIL!”
If that is the case, I thank you, Substack Gods! It is true, that ever since I’ve found myself spending less and less time in the new land of confusion and annoyance I am writing way more content to send via email to my subscribers.
However, I enjoy meeting fellow Substack users and learning from them. There’s no place else where I can get that kind of community. Not on Discord or any other platform. And to have it in the same place where I create my content is ideal.
Was Notes broken? Certainly not. If anything, it was perfect. And maybe that’s why it was changed in this way. I notice all too often that it’s the things we find perfect that are immediately altered. Their creator thinking it can be made “more perfect.” So they tinker and toil and think they’ve done a great thing when in fact they’ve managed to take what once was perfect and tarnished it. I hope that the Substack Gods realize their colossal mistake and go back. If they continue on this road it will make it unfixable. And what is unfixable, as we all know too well, turns perfection into an absolute and total TWIT.
NEVER USING “LIKE” AGAIN
On a positive note (on Notes) what seeing so many “Likes” on my timeline has made me realize is that perhaps we’ve all become complacent with this feature. Instead of saying how we feel, why we “Like” what we’ve just read, we rely on a button to convey that sentiment and move on. It becomes something we do without even realizing it. Does every single post/comment need to be “Liked”? I would argue the answer is no. They do not. And yet, I will received 10 Likes to my post or comment and zero comments. Sure, seeing something get all those Likes can be gratifying but pretty soon you realize just how empty that can be.
Receiving Likes tells me nothing. I am left with more questions than answers:
Why did you like it?
What did you like about it?
I challenge all of us to STOP using the Like button. It should not absolve us from actually saying something to each other. And guess what, if you don’t have anything to actually say, then don’t. I much rather receive zero Likes and 2 comments than 20 Likes and zero comments. One far outweighs the other. We need to stop being so lazy and free-wheeling with our Likes. There, I said it. And this is coming from someone who used to be just as foot loose and fancy free with the Like button as well. It got to the point where I would click the Like button before I even read the comment! What?! That’s insanity!
Immediately after I realized Notes would take my innocent Like push and place it smack dab on other peoples timelines, I stopped. I will never Like again. The last thing I want to do is disrupt someone’s Notes experience because I’m throwing around my Likes like candy on Halloween night. Be the person you wish others to be. Don’t disrupt someone else’s Notes experience because you feel this urge to Like before you read.
Now, you don’t have to be exactly like me. If you really need to or want to Like something, by all means, go ahead. I’m just suggesting we THINK more about the Likes we give rather than just giving them.
The way we instinctively look both ways before we cross the street, we need to read it through before we click that Like button.
What are your feelings about this whole Like situation happening over on Substack Notes? Have you felt this shift at all? Perhaps you don’t even know what the heck I’m talking about? Well, you can visit Notes and see for yourself. I’ve oft heard it described as so much better than the other Twits out there. But as you’ve read, only time will tell if that holds true…
100% agree. I’m actively trying to comment more on something I see on Notes than just hitting that silly like button. I blame the Book of Face.
Alas, I have not been Faced for nary a decade or more now? I don’t even have the app on my phone. It’s so freeing and refreshing to be rid of the baggage that comes along with certain social media apps that do the very opposite of their intention; to be social with others. Notes was that breath of fresh air but I see the pollution. The gray clouds are forming and the once bright stars in the night sky are fading away. Are these the doomed dark days ahead? I hope not.
I log onto FB and Instagram once a day, poke around for five minutes and then run screaming for the hills. Never used the FB app.
I *really realllllly* hope Notes doesn’t turn into yet another toxic social media dumpstersfire clusterfuck shitshow.
Agree. Hitting the like button, to the majority of people, it’s a impulsive gesture. Sometimes they didiread the post.
It is just an empty impulse, with no purpose
I’ll take a like or a comment. It means they read it, or they want me to know they read it. I don’t care which one I get so much. Sometimes you just want to say you liked something without qualifying it. I get that.
Maybe. I do have friends who like posts every now and then and then tell me later in person why they liked it. I think writing comments can be stressful for folks, especially if they’re on substack as readers and not writers.
Yep.
I was conflicted about whether or not I should like this…
For your honesty, I have elected that YOUR comment shall be the only one I give the almighty LIKE to for this post! :bow and curtsy:
I am honored.
I am going to ‘like’ this after I’ve said my piece… I agree Erica, I no longer see anything at all I want to because I simply don’t have time to scroll through every liked post before I get there – I will like something only if I really DO. I will use the restack button and say something about what or why, but the last few I’ve shared went unseen – probably because nobody else has the time to scroll through either… so I’m beginning to think what’s the point and yet this was my main point of discovery – like minded people sharing – brilliant!
I feel very irritated by this last update too… Notes was a wonderful communicative, mostly intellectual and interesting place to be for a few minutes during coffee breaks and it’s gone..!
@substack we are sad… we’ve lost something we loved – hit rewind please !!
Same feelings here Susie 😕 This new update has hidden so many people that I used to interact with, not really sure what is going on 🤷🏻♀️
Me neither, and, I’m struggling to understand something else, what is the point of followers? Surely it is subscriptions we want for our letters and publications not followers on notes that don’t even look at what we write…? If this was implemented to inspire subscribers it’s not working.., at least not for me!
Maybe I’ve misunderstood…? 🫤
I’m less worried about followers. I’ll follow someone so I can find them again, but I don’t need all the subscriptions in my inbox. There has to be a happy medium somewhere.
Well maybe I am missing something then..? Are followers the same as subscribers..? I am literally lost…
And therein lies the problem.
Subscribers receive emails. Followers are just a Notes only feature. You can follow someone now without needing to subscribe to their newsletter. This was one of the main issues that many of us had. In the early days of Notes the only way you could see someone on your timeline was if you subscribed to their newsletter. This caused many to end up arbitrarily subscribing to hundreds of substacks just so they could see that person’s Notes in their timeline. With the addition of followers, we can now all unsubscribe and just follow those people we want to see in our timelines.
It makes it all rather neat and tidy. Until you get to the issue with seeing LIKES and such…
I hope this explains a bit the difference between Subscribers and Followers.
Perfectly, thank you so much for taking the time to explain it to me’
You can have the subscriptions only go to the app and not to your inbox if you want. The option should be under Settings in your profile. There is a Notifications section. Select the one that says something about, “App only.”
I don’t really understand the whole followers thing either and why it was implemented when it seems, based on how everyone is feeling about the subject, that no one seems to be enjoying this new transition. I miss the way it was ❤️🩹
I think viewing others LIKES should never have been couched within the Followers update. That is the real problem. Just because I’m following a person doesn’t necessarily mean I want to see everything they LIKE and what I LIKE is something I necessarily don’t want others to see. Knowing that others can see it makes me less likely to click the LIKE button. It’s all far too confusing to try to unravel or explain away. I just hope my thoughts help others to be more mindful moving forward and we’ll see how that might change our little Notes corner.
AMEN! PREACH! PREACH! I have noticed a considerable DIP in the responses I get to my Notes and I know it is 100% because of the way the algorithm works now. And I don’t blame you or anyone else who uses Notes, gets fed up with all the LIKES they see, and just walks away. That happens and the real Notes that are written go sight unseen for hours before someone responds (if they do at all). I do the same thing.
I think 99.9% of the Notes I respond to now happen over 4hrs (some days later) after they’ve been written and ONLY because someone else has Restacked/Liked it. And it’s for people I am following so I should be seeing their posts Live when they write them. I hate that my responses to their questions or call for discussion comes hours or days later. It’s not fair to them. But I always make sure I do respond with my thoughts once I’ve seen it because I know how it can feel defeating to see Notes become that VOID we thought we all had left behind with those Twit Days.
And the Instagram days – it all just feels so depressingly similar…
I repeat, @substack hit rewind, PRETTY PLEASE!
Just in case it got lost in the chaos, here’s the link to the 100-word story you inspired: https://stephanieloomis.substack.com/p/if-not-paris
Agreed. @substack, don’t be Twitter or instagram. Be the Substack that made you different
Absolutely – Heaven forbid we should all find ourselves there again!
Wow! Thanks for saying this out loud, Erica — I think you’re onto something. I like all the time, but I appreciate the flip side perspective. Looking forward to reading more of your work. Take care!
I’ve been thinking about other areas where I use LIKE and why it might be better or worse. I can easily think of the worse aspect to it, but when I think of the positive I can only think of one area and that is my RSS reader. In that instance everything I LIKE holds particular weight for me and nobody else.
1. The things I LIKE are for my eyes only.
2. I have a LIKED location so I use it as a sort of “read these later”
3. I unLIKE once I’ve read the thing and clear out my list of “read these later”
I wonder if we would collectively use LIKE differently (ie less) if it was solely for us to see and read later? Sort of like how they have ARCHIVE set up? Though I must admit I don’t use their ARCHIVE feature because of how hidden they made it and difficult I find it to manage and use.
The change has been a daunting one to overlook or get past, for sure. And trying to find a solution is difficult when the tools I’m accustomed to having in another platform just aren’t here so it makes me feel like my hands are tied. Nothing left to do but throw my hands up in surrender and do something else.
I’ve gotten much more writing done because of this! <--- Me looking on the bright side!
I have taken to commenting on posts that raise relevant concerns, as this does. The majority of readers are, indeed, complacent and trained to hit a button, which is far less stressful or damaging than actually explaining WHY they like anything to begin with. However, as someone who has for many years never garnered a single ‘like’ on their long-form work (because nobody read it, period) this feature at least shows me who is paying attention. When you have less than 50 followers, knowing who gave a response is useful.
Thank you for a thoughtful and interesting post <3
I must admit, I understand. I think the LIKES that I notice the most (and question fervently) are the ones that come within seconds of sending out the thing. I wonder if they really read it. How could they? Then I start to question every LIKE that comes after. Even if it’s hours or days later. Surely THAT Like came later because that person read what I wrote. But I still have to wonder. Is it because they just didn’t see it and instinct dictates that once they do they must now LIKE it.
The snowball in my brain happens and before I know it, none of the LIKES mean what I’m sure they should mean but instead hold less and less meaning altogether.
Hi Erica,
So the world is full of heart junkies and we are all frivolous? Removing the likes, would that be spoiling some fun? Removing a way of showing gratitude?
To write something poignant takes skill. Couldn’t it be that Substack is expanding with more readers daily and your work is increasingly popular?
Is your grievance a privilege of being a well established writer??
Can’t a beginner on the app be allowed the delight of a like from someone they’ve never heard of? (Which in my case invites me to see who liked.) Is your idea stealing the icing on the cake?
You can still see which subscriber is active on your list which gives more powerful information than a simple scarlet heart.
I know quite a few readers read my stories but don’t do hearts. Not everyone wears their hearts on their sleeve. I give away a heart when I think they deserve it.
I do admit it is easy to tap in to showering hearts. What about every account holder choosing if they want to be a heart donor or receiver? Like an opting out button.
Or
Beginners could be allowed them for six months if it helps them to get off the ground and more into the App? To show them their reach.
I think each person is different. I am not taking away or insisting everyone cease using the LIKE button. What I am suggesting is that it not be used as some throw away action that I know MANY do. The reason I know this is because 9 times out of 10, within seconds of sharing a long post or REALLY long email (such as this one) I’ve already received a handful of LIKES. Now, I know there is such a thing as speed reading, but I highly doubt those “instant LIKES” come from someone speed reading and more from those who do it instinctively without much thought at all.
My hope is that there is less instinctive LIKE pushing and more responding after something has been read and perhaps saying whatever we were thinking while we were reading the thing.
Doesn’t have to be flowery or contain extra prose for good measure. And again, LIKE to your hearts content. Just realize how it might come across, especially on those occasions when the LIKE comes seconds after the post has gone out.
It is in its “too good to be true” phase and when the sheen wears away over time I do wonder if we’ll have the same giddy excitement that we have for the past year. I see the writing on the wall as well. With each new “update” comes several tiny inconveniences. Add them all up and they make for a difficult and unpleasant experience.
I hope they right the ship before it’s too late and no amount of undoing will fix it.
I agree but I haven’t seen this behaviour on my timeline yet, maybe the update is staggered? Currently Notes remains as notes, replies, and restacks. Likes aren’t appearing, but if they did then I agree with you. A like should be private and a restack public otherwise what’s the point in having both if they have the same functionality. I’d rather have a place to see all the posts and notes I’ve liked.
If you are not bombarded with LIKES it could be for several reasons, one of which that it hasn’t rolled out to the entire Note-using community yet. Another could be with who you are (or aren’t?) following? I actually had to unfollow people (unfortunately) in order to cease seeing all of the LIKES. I did discover that they are based on who I’m following which at least means I have some control over how many I see in my timeline.
Given I’m in the United Kingdom I’m going to say it’s rollout delay. At least you can unfollow without unsubbing, though I’m tentative of Notes becoming too Twitter-esk. I do hope it either becomes an option or you find all the serial-likers to restore your timeline to something you want to engage with.
I hadn’t thought about it, but a like is pretty useless without the context of why someone liked it.
Context, as writers, is everything. So, it’s time we put our writing skills to more use than a simple “Like” especially if we have the tools to do it. At the end of the day, our comment doesn’t have to be a soliloquy or paragraphs of praise an opinion. But I think we can do better than leaving behind a LIKE in our wake.
Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings. I appreciate it and your comment even more.
Well done Erica Drayton! To simply LIKE is to demean the value of the liked post. If the reader is touched by content let them respond in a positive way by expressing their appreciation in a comment.
I hope you accept my non-LIKE of your comment! It deserves much more! Instead, I tip my hat to you! I feel even more emboldened by your comment (and others) to take my mission to a larger scale and champion the practice of less LIKES for more commentary and discussion!
I think if we all band together it can be done. It just takes one (or more) to draw the line in the sand.
I couldn’t agree more. I don’t want to see the same thing over and over in Notes (or anywhere else) and “like” has lost its meaning entirely. Does it mean “I agree”, “Well said”, or just “I acknowledge your communication”?
I’m going to follow your example.
EXACTLY! I see a “Like” and I’m wondering the same thing. It’s the most silent form of response on the internet. It’s gotten to the point when someone says something meaningful and heartfelt about someone they lost, a tragedy, I see they have several “Likes” and it just hits differently. It holds no weight and if anything stings more than soothes, which is probably the response that person was hoping for.
I’ll admit when I click “Like” it doesn’t mean the same thing in all instances and yet it says the same. I think many of us do it as a way of saying “I read it” which is not what it means and therefore is quite misleading.
I’ve felt the same thing in other social media. Instead of “like”, why not buttons that say “right on!”, “you’re full of crap” or “yack yack yack”. Anything that gives a clue what the responder feels about the post. And then show them only to the original poster. Feedback of any kind is more meaningful.
That is exactly my response to a similar thread on Notes this morning. What do they actually mean? I know how I had been using it myself – I have read and appreciate; I loved this (often a story) but I don’t have anything to say other than that; thank you for the conversation but I’m over and out; I agree with this comment; I am so overwhelmed by your writing I have no words; I loved this but I’m off to the bar and don’t have time right now … It’s nice to have likes on something you’ve posted or contributed, but a single comment has had so much more personal impact, and reminded me of the importance of ethical considerations behind my own words.
Perhaps the devs will read these comments and reverse course.
I’ve tapped the like button to give your post support, and restacked. I confess, I hadn’t thought about how automatic it’s become to tap the heart and move on if I can’t think of anything productive to say. Your post is aptly timed however, because over the past week, I’ve had an awakening.
I can’t recall if it resulted from a post of yours or someone else’s, but I remember reading somewhere that one of the strengths of Substack is community, and community is built by interacting with each other. In this case, through the comments and chats and Notes. Also mentioned was that if an author has invested hundreds and sometimes thousands of words into their post/essay, they deserve better than a “Cool!” comment. It struck me that I had been sliding into that lane myself. I co-manage a crafting group on Ravelry, and I’m always telling our folks there that “You get out of this experience what you put into it”. That’s true here on Substack as well, (although that was never the case for Twitter and I).
So after reading that essay last week, I resolved to be a more conscientious and thoughtful commenter. Support my fellow authors with, at the very least, some kind of useful feedback, or discussion point or question about what they’ve written.
I read something somewhere that talked about a phenomena wherein many people seem to “tap into” the same theory, or realization, or philosophy. I think that many of us are getting tired of seeing the same old, same old on the places we hang out online. Likes are one example of this, the yearning for true connection and exchange of thoughts as well. A socially aware pendulum, of a sort.
At any rate, I agree with the call for more thoughtful interaction and less tapping of an icon and moving on.
We’ll get out of Substack what we put in, and can only raise the IQ of the internet if we feed it intelligent and thoughtful discourse.
I literally had to stop everything I was doing to read this thoughtful and informative response. Thank you for reading my post and for agreeing. It was difficult to write but seeing all of the positive responses has made me realize I am not alone in how I feel about this situation and I’m glad I said something.
I think if we all just take an extra couple seconds to think about a verbal/written response rather than a knee-jerk button push, the community could only get better.
Oh, good grief, no.
The problem you’ve identified – that our Notes timelines are a mess – has been the case since Notes started, including having likes show up irritatingly frequently. Perhaps it’s gotten worse, but it is the least of Notes’ problems. You’re right to be cross about the recent update, but I fear the target of your anger is wrong.
Likes form three important functions.
1. They are social proof. A post or a Notes with lots of likes is more attractive to the casual reader who will see the likes and think “Oh, must be something here worth reading.”
2. They are esteem indicators. They show the author that they’ve said something that someone has valued, and that’s important especially for writers who perhaps aren’t getting much else in the way of feedback elsewhere.
3. They are an easy way for readers to indicate a positive response without having to come up with some sort of comment. We shouldn’t feel the need to always comment – sometimes we want to just show that we, well, liked something.
These are all important social communications, and asking people to stop liking is asking them to partially sever themselves from the broader Substack community. Likes have value, both in terms of creating connection and goodwill, and indicating that something has been appreciated.
I agree that the Notes algorithm is terrible, but there’s so, so much more that’s wrong with it than just it over-weighting likes.
If I may address the court with a counter argument to your points (all of which I find true and valid, by the way):
1. I can’t recall ever basing my decision on whether or not something is worth reading if it has an abundance of LIKES. In fact, if I were to base it on a number, which I don’t, my eye will always go to Title first, image second, first paragraph third, is to the number of comments. If I see a decent amount of comments (not hundreds because that is overwhelming and I feel like I could never catch up or join in after that) then I will read it.
2. My issue is not with the LIKE itself but the timing of it. All too often the LIKE comes seconds after something has been sent. I don’t know about you, but when I see something I’ve written that is over 2k words and it receives multiple likes SECONDS after I sent it, I know it was not read. It does little to build my esteem. It actually deflates it.
3. I think asking for a comment isn’t asking a lot. Especially, if you really do Like it. The act of writing words does more for ones brain function than clicking the LIKE button. I am not medical doctor or expert. But I do take your point that not everyone is a commenter by trade (I know I am not by any means) which is why I advocate that it should stay.
I appreciate what you have written here Erica. Notes just doesn’t seem to have the same feeling and sense of community that it previously had.
A Note without a human connection behind it is really not a Note at all. I feel like the lack of the human words along with the post is what’s making it seem less alive. At least having the ability to “restack with a Note” makes it better. But this? This just will not do at all…
I agree.
As I was about to “like” your post, I clicked and read it instead. Because that’s the precise human-condition conundrum SM has prayed upon: what’s the quickest low-cost interaction and how can we build upon that? And that’s why so many of us LOVE Substack – it’s the social media antidote for social creators. So yes, I am on this bandwagon with bless and whistles. Say NO to the Like! 😂💖
I will create banners (or placards depending on where you’re from) for us to carry and march in protest if we have to. Or maybe we should be silent assassins and nudge our readers towards leaving a comment first and maybe, if they still feel the need, a LIKE afterwards. I am currently working on a “part II”, if you will, that will outline some types of comments one can leave if one is feeling pressure and just not the comment leaving kind. It’s actually quite painless once you make that a part of your everyday routine.
😂🎉💖 (my go-to when I want to leave a comment but have gone into nonverbal mode!)
Why do I love the idea of leaving emoji comments vs using the LIKE button? This could start a trend that I support. Until the emoji’s are strange and difficult to decipher…this deserves some further thoughts and experimentation for sure…
This thread just illustrates your point. How much might we have missed if everyone had just “liked” your original post?
Indeed! How many thoughts and opinions, all valid and what I never even considered myself, would I not have seen or they not had the opportunity to say if there were some fear of saying it. I am truly overwhelmed by the response to my post and intend to respond in kind to every single one.
I will get Instagram likes for videos that appear before it would be possible to watch what I’ve put up, and yes, absolutely, that isn’t a real person. In fact, in every case, it’s a robot pushing me to an engagement site. Then there are the mutuals who’ll like everything I ever make, as a reminder that they’re still in my feed. There used to be a lot of time spent in the past mailing these people and asking them to tell me why they’d be happy to like but never to engage and the responses were… well, let’s just say it was never really a surprise. Then there was the guy who’d reply to every blog post and when I didn’t talk to him for a few days he went ballistic and started pulling every thing I wrote apart. In the end, he squatted on a name change assuming I’d want to come back to it. He’s still there, waiting.
In the end, we all crave the connections for different way. I, personally, would like a dislike button because if there were one I sense it might empower me more to challenge the stupidity I see daily. Meaning for me comes from exchanges like this, when I’m grateful you explain your position and allow me to respond. Too many times on platforms, and it has happened here already, my responses are automatically considered as an attack because I won’t agree 100% with the person’s POV.
We should have the option to customise our own reactions. The word ‘like’ is horrible, there are far better words. If we COULD customise those features, I suspect the meaning might yet be salvaged.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to engage with you <3
I welcome the opposite response and the positive response! I welcome your thoughts and opinions wholeheartedly. In fact, I insist you give them. So much so that if I could, I would do away with the comments section. I’m even quite totalitarian in my thoughts here, or should I say dictator?, because what I would love is that you CANNOT read my next thing UNTIL you leave a comment. But I know there are those for whom leaving a comment, even one that says “liked it” or “hated it” would be asking too much.
I think back on the days when people would write a letter to the newspaper or their favorite author to tell them what they thought because there was literally no other way. And sometimes they would respond back. I know it’s still done today, but not like it used to be. I speak as if I am old enough to remember those days. I am not. Though I wish I were. Instead, I read about those days and wonder how much different life would be if my stories were serials in a newspaper and my correspondence with readers came through letters in my mailbox…would my mailbox be empty or would it be stuffed with words of love and hate equally?
That is a genius idea, you know. I wish there was more customization in these apps for niche approaches to publishing.
I feel like this idea is meant for the more niche communities. Not Substack as a whole, they could not handle it. But say, if you had a PO Box and then your readers could, if they wanted to, send you a correspondence. I actually have a PO Box for business reasons but you know, I never actually share it anywhere and then I wonder why I never get any mail there outside of what I’m expecting!
I’m giving you a Like and a Comment because I do like what you’ve said and I do agree with you. I rarely use Notes and have not followed anyone on Substack because every “update” makes this wonderful place feel more and more like every other social platform. With every additional feature added, a small piece of the unique experience is lost. I came here because it was different!
As for the Like button, I couldn’t have said it better. And I am completely guilty of hitting it instead of typing out how I truly feel about a post. But I do appreciate anyone who hits it for me because I rarely get any kind of feedback at all. At least a like let’s me know someone actually read what I wrote and didn’t just open it and scroll through mindlessly. So, it’s double-edged for me.
Thank you for voicing your thoughts, Erica! I enjoy your writing. Your presence on Substack certainly makes me want to remain a part of this special community of writers and readers.
I am forever a work in progress. Are we all not? If we aren’t then what are we living for? I say this because I to have clicked the button. And I’ll admit those times were instant and without having read the work at all. I did it because it was someone I know. And I figured, “I always like what they write so it stands to reason, whether I read this thing from them or not, I’m going to like it. So I’ll just save myself the time and hit this LIKE button.” But how disingenuous that is for me to do and how would I feel if that were done to me? As I am sure it is and has been many times over.
I will also admit that treating everything I read this way: LIKE is secondary. COMMENT always preferred. This makes me expand my mind more. Be more mindful with my words and my thoughts. It also forces me to think and use words. It might sound silly, but I compare this to a signature. The only time I write in cursive is when I sign my signature and the only time I do this is when I’m writing a check. Nowadays, that might happen a dozen times in one year. That’s it. And when I think about it, that’s also the only time I may pick up a pen to write anything! So that when I do, as I have been forcing myself to do lately, I feel like I’m re-learning how to write words! How dependent we have become on technology. No need to hand write that note, I have a notes app. Or why bother typing? I have dictation that will type it for me. Yes, I know there are people who need and use these tools. They are necessary and they are amazing. But for those of us who really don’t need those tools and could hand write it down or could leave a comment (even if it’s just a sentence or two) should we not make the effort?
I step down gingerly off my soapbox now. I really only intended to write a sentence or two reply…but here we are! What a difference NOT hitting the LIKE button here has made!
Scrolling through my Notes, I don’t see likes. I get like notifications and those clog my notifications tabs, but if I go to Notes and check out the home or following tab, I just see people talking and restacking. This is a honest question, what are you looking at that is clogged with likes?
I’m looking at the Home tab. Which is essentially the main Notes tab either in the App or on the website. If you LIKE a post/email and I am Following you, then in the Notes feed/timeline I will see PATRICIA J.L. LIKED and then it will be that post. No commentary along with it. Just that. And if several people LIKE something it will just be one after the other before I see an actual Note or Restack from someone else. After seeing 5+ LIKED posts it can get annoying to keep scrolling till I see a real Note in Notes. The solution that I have come up with is to not follow anyone. That way I won’t see LIKES in my timeline at all.
Okay, that is legit weird because I do not get ANY likes in my Notes feeds. Not on the website or the app. I don’t see anything in settings that would turn it off in Notes. Maybe the update hasn’t rolled out to everyone yet and it will start eventually for me. I guess right now I better enjoy the crap of out of having a timeline uncluttered by likes!
@JB Minton started a thread on this topic earlier today on Notes: https://substack.com/@jbminton/note/c-36906059
In the thread, myself and @Alexander M Crow got into convo, basically agreeing with what you’ve said here. We discovered that we found it really hard to NOT hit the like button even during the course of our brief conversation.
Small steps, I decided to continue as I’d started and not like anything for the rest of the day (even if I liked it) and comment. So far, so good.
Challenge accepted. I’m going to try go another day! I’m hoping to go heart and thumbs up free until the end of the month, and who knows, maybe the like-free response will be the new normal?
It sounds and feels like a breath of fresh air to be Like free. I am sure there is an equal and more damning negative impact that can come from everyone ceasing to use the Like button. I do try to stress that I feel there is a time and a place for using it and it shouldn’t just disappear from our everyday use entirely. It just shouldn’t be the norm or default response to what we read and especially should never be used in cases where we have not yet begun to read what was written.
To be more mindful with one’s Like choices is key to a better and happier community.
To try has been an exercise in learning first-hand the pitfalls and benefits. I will add an addendum to a future post on what I have learned from the experience. At the moment, I still think it is habit, but a habit to click BEFORE the read rather than after is somewhat taking the mick. I think it is a good idea to take a moment before clicking. Why am I doing this? Could it be said better with words? What am I really trying to say when I react to this? Interesting discussion, Erica, thank you for raising it.
Erica, I’m consciously avoiding the urge to “like” this post! But I do appreciate what you have to say here. I also appreciate what you have to say elsewhere, and appreciate what you’re doing. I hope you don’t mistake my likes for anything other than wanting to amplify what you were saying so that others would also (hopefully) see the same message (or story).
It’s really tough, because we ARE living within a system. It’s a bit of a prisoner’s dilemma, where we have to promote our stuff and know that the best way for us (as individuals) to do that is to play the game in front of us, but the best thing for the community at large may be for everyone to stop playing entirely.
I don’t really have an axe to grind one way or another. I do know that I want to continue to amplify works I think are good, because I feel like a higher level of quality deserves to receive more exposure, but I also think you make great points here: if we’re just playing a game, does our conversation begin to lose meaning? The answer is almost certainly yes.
I love playing this game. Share each others work. Help each other when we have questions that someone else will likely have more of a grasp on. This excites me. I think there are certain aspects of the game that deserve to be rejiggered(?) a bit. Such as the Like system. It’s like this unwritten rule, within ourselves, that says “If I Liked it then I can move on from it. My work here is done.” When in fact, your work has only just begun. Especially if that Like is followed up with unanswered questions. I enjoy dropping a Like every now and then. I am guilty as charged. But I realize now, in hindsight, just how much a simple comment along with a Like can open up conversations and discussions that would otherwise go untapped.
I think we probably both use Substack really differently than most readers. I tend to comment more often than not if I read something; after all, a deeper conversation is exactly what I hope to instill in my own readers.
A lot of folks out there are probably pretty comment-shy, but for me, the conversations are the important part.
I do like the idea of improving the system, too, and I’ll stand alongside you in these efforts. In the meantime, I’ll continue to do my best to navigate the existing framework.
I usually comment. If I like something, I skip the like button and share thoughts. Makes me happier when that happens on my own Substack. But the reason isn’t because I don’t like the like button. It’s because I want a community, a conversation. Like doesn’t offer that. I came to Substack a few months ago, migrating my newsletter of 15 years here because of that need for community. It’s the whole reason this feels vibrant and alive to me.
All completely valid points. There is no right or wrong answers. Just personal observations and feelings on the topic. I know all my wishes won’t come true but if my frustrations help others to feel less alone in feeling the same way and perhaps leads to more conversation within the community, I consider that a win-win.
I’ve gotten used to the like feature on other platforms, and since it didn’t bombard people it seemed an innocent way to support the work of more people when my time was limited for one-finger typed comments. But seeing likes turn into shares, here and elsewhere, I’ve become more conservative with them…. I’ve felt bad about it but dang it when I see a dozen liked posts from one person, I now mute or unfollow them. And that feels ick too. Social just keeps becoming more and more of what I don’t want in my life. Yet…I run a biz and still need to engage clients. Bleh!
Finally got to this, and thanks for putting it out there. My Substack philosophy had been to “like” every post I read, even from newsletters I don’t subscribe to, to show the writer I engaged with the work. Of note, when other writers don’t “like” my posts back, sometimes I feel a little resentful, because we all want that stupid dopamine hit, and “likes” are valuable from a curation/algorithm standpoint.
I’ve criticized Notes from the outset, because it’s antithetical to the point of Substack — producing great content for engaged readers. Notes is another place for algorithms and faux engagement to rule the day, which I hate, and is why I have no social media accounts.
I’m not “liking” your post, but I appreciate you writing it. I asked Substack specifically for an option to disable “likes” while keeping “comments” active. Hopefully that becomes possible.
Wow Erica! Thank you! such an eye-opening and thought-provoking post! Damn ❤️
I have my comments feature turned off on my Instagram posts cos I thought I didn’t want everyone’s public opinions about my post, whether it’s controversial or not. I turned off comments on my IG stories, too – I did this because I thought if they really like my post and have something to say, better DM me, and so it’s a way for us to chat and catch up if they do, it really means they care.
Not sure if you could resonate to this. What do tou think?
I don’t have an issue with “likes” and I’ll continue to click like on the ones appealing to me. I’m sorry it hadn’t worked for you.