Twitter is losing?

Twitter has blocked all content related to Substack. Mayhem has ensued.

Apr 08, 2023

Twitter vs Substack War

I don’t usually do this kind of news-related post, but here we are.

But, earlier this morning I learned that Twitter was actively throttling any tweet that links to a Substack article.

Why?

Well, Substack just announced Notes. Currently in private beta, and I happen to have test access.

Substack Notes is essentially a Twitter feed on Substack.

Which, honestly, makes a lot of sense.

Twitter has been a place I throw ideas to see what sticks, and use it as a means to broaden my Substack readership. Which is where I put out all of my creative work.

I would rather communicate with my subscribers, and the type of people who generally consume the type of work I do. Long form writing on the field of Medicine.

What better general audience than all Substack users?

Anyway.

First, they Twitter was blocking links to substack pages.

Then, as the above image demonstrates, Substack’s Twitter profile tweeted a pure text message.

No link anywhere.

But, this post from Substack cannot be liked or commented on. Further, the retweets are also limited.

This is no longer throttling of link outs. It’s an outright ban on all things related to Substack. Whether you believe it is right or wrong.

Now, we are hearing people report that they cannot even link to their Substack on their Twitter Bio.

Which is absurd.

Mine doesn’t seem to be affected because I bought a domain name that isn’t a Substack URL.

Nostr Rises

All of the above has happened in the last 24 hours or so.

It’s important to recognize that since 2020 or so, Twitter has been losing users to more freedom oriented social messaging platforms. First it was Mastodon, Parler, then it was a whole slew of alternatives…until now.

Since about late 2022, and early 2023 Nostr has been on the rise.

https://nostr.com/

Nostr is the Bitcoin to Twitter.

The decentralized social media platform, that looks and feels aspirational of Twitter whilst using bitcoin via Lightning Network protocols to promote support of one another on the platform.

But, they are like tips rather than subscriptions.

I digress.

Nostr has been rising in user rate for quite some time. The development team is absolutely software savvy, and focused on improving the apps and websites used to access the protocol.

On iOS people use Damus app to access Nostr.

On Android, I use Amethyst.

There is an atmosphere on Nostr right now that is invigorating. Jack Dorsey (former CEO of Twitter) is on Nostr and actively contributing to its development.