I’ve been thinking about leaving SM for quite some time. You’re right: it’s not what it once was and the emotional angst and hangovers I feel are not worth it. What’s more is I dislike marketing my INFJ self there so much. Thank you for this! (I lived in ATX from 2011-2016! A latte is expensive, lol).
I'm seriously considering this. I woke up one morning to somebody advertising luggage on my Ads Account on Facebook. I write books. Then within a few hours, FB had given my account over to these hackers. They pulled the oldest trick--accused me of child sexual exploitation, which results in immediately getting your account disabled. FB offered no evidence, no recourse, nothing. I filed several appeals, but got no where. I even found some outside email addresses and send nicely worded emails explaining the situation. Now, there is NO WAY to dispute this. I reported this to the FBI cybercrimes unit, the Authors Guild, AARP, and even had a lawyer in Brazil helping. Someone inside Brazilian FB offices tried to help, but they weren't interested in a US account.
So I made a small new page just for family and friends. Got brave and made a business page -- and FB just yesterday announced they wouldn't be recommending my page because I had a history of violating community standards -- which I do not. But who can I prove this to?
I'm very interested in not doing any business with FB again. They make my Instagram accounts hard to work with, too.
Loved your interview with Becca. You two are some of my favourite online people!
As someone who is only building their author platform, I can't tell you how inspirational your decision to cut ties with SM is. I was going through the motions of setting up all my accounts, but dreading making posts, and feeling drained after a few minutes of interaction. I'm realising that some indies LOVE SM and it can bring then a lot of joy and community. For me, it tends to feel shallow and exhausting. Substack isn't perfect, but so far it feels more comfortable to me?
Anyway, you've helped me tap into myself and ask what is actually right for me. What resontates with the author career I want to have. Thank you for being open with your process and sharing it with us Claire <3
One more thing: personally, I DO consider Substack Notes to be social media. It has the same kind of algorithm-based reach and process with winners and losers and all the “pick me!” energy if the other platforms. The newsletter/post side is different, and I use it for my author newsletter.
The Notes feature strikes me as social media-like, too. Bummer and quite unnecessary. I've been considering how I might interact with it as a result. Currently, I engage with it as a bulletin board for my existing subscribers to remind them I have a new article out, rather than an opportunity for finding new subscribers. That's worked so far for me to avoid getting sucked in. What other people do with it is their business.
What I do like about Substack is that it doesn't wall up the information on its site. People can access my articles without going to the actual website, so I'm not forcing people to spend time on a feed. As long as that feature remains (and they don't make you read on the site), I'll consider sticking around. If that changes, I'm out like a lighting flash.
As the entire site evolves, I have to continually reevaluate my interactions with it. I suspect Substack is going to become enshittified fairly quickly (almost unrecognizable and unusable within a year or so), so I'm not getting too attached to it as a tool, downloading my subscriber lists regularly, etc.
Yes to all this. Like you, I’m waiting for the enshittification to fall any moment. Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Claire. (Substack “helpfully” posts to notes about new content I’ve created in the newsletter section, and I don’t delete those. I like your bulletin board approach!)
Claire, question: did you simply abandon your social accounts, deactivate them, or totally delete for all time? I’ve abandoned for now, but am considering deactivating. I also would love to delete so those companies lose one more user.
I’ve been thinking about leaving SM for quite some time. You’re right: it’s not what it once was and the emotional angst and hangovers I feel are not worth it. What’s more is I dislike marketing my INFJ self there so much. Thank you for this! (I lived in ATX from 2011-2016! A latte is expensive, lol).
Love this!
I'm seriously considering this. I woke up one morning to somebody advertising luggage on my Ads Account on Facebook. I write books. Then within a few hours, FB had given my account over to these hackers. They pulled the oldest trick--accused me of child sexual exploitation, which results in immediately getting your account disabled. FB offered no evidence, no recourse, nothing. I filed several appeals, but got no where. I even found some outside email addresses and send nicely worded emails explaining the situation. Now, there is NO WAY to dispute this. I reported this to the FBI cybercrimes unit, the Authors Guild, AARP, and even had a lawyer in Brazil helping. Someone inside Brazilian FB offices tried to help, but they weren't interested in a US account.
So I made a small new page just for family and friends. Got brave and made a business page -- and FB just yesterday announced they wouldn't be recommending my page because I had a history of violating community standards -- which I do not. But who can I prove this to?
I'm very interested in not doing any business with FB again. They make my Instagram accounts hard to work with, too.
This was such a fun interview. <3
Loved your interview with Becca. You two are some of my favourite online people!
As someone who is only building their author platform, I can't tell you how inspirational your decision to cut ties with SM is. I was going through the motions of setting up all my accounts, but dreading making posts, and feeling drained after a few minutes of interaction. I'm realising that some indies LOVE SM and it can bring then a lot of joy and community. For me, it tends to feel shallow and exhausting. Substack isn't perfect, but so far it feels more comfortable to me?
Anyway, you've helped me tap into myself and ask what is actually right for me. What resontates with the author career I want to have. Thank you for being open with your process and sharing it with us Claire <3
One more thing: personally, I DO consider Substack Notes to be social media. It has the same kind of algorithm-based reach and process with winners and losers and all the “pick me!” energy if the other platforms. The newsletter/post side is different, and I use it for my author newsletter.
The Notes feature strikes me as social media-like, too. Bummer and quite unnecessary. I've been considering how I might interact with it as a result. Currently, I engage with it as a bulletin board for my existing subscribers to remind them I have a new article out, rather than an opportunity for finding new subscribers. That's worked so far for me to avoid getting sucked in. What other people do with it is their business.
What I do like about Substack is that it doesn't wall up the information on its site. People can access my articles without going to the actual website, so I'm not forcing people to spend time on a feed. As long as that feature remains (and they don't make you read on the site), I'll consider sticking around. If that changes, I'm out like a lighting flash.
As the entire site evolves, I have to continually reevaluate my interactions with it. I suspect Substack is going to become enshittified fairly quickly (almost unrecognizable and unusable within a year or so), so I'm not getting too attached to it as a tool, downloading my subscriber lists regularly, etc.
Yes to all this. Like you, I’m waiting for the enshittification to fall any moment. Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Claire. (Substack “helpfully” posts to notes about new content I’ve created in the newsletter section, and I don’t delete those. I like your bulletin board approach!)
Also, I love Becca and watched the interview the other day.
<3
Claire, question: did you simply abandon your social accounts, deactivate them, or totally delete for all time? I’ve abandoned for now, but am considering deactivating. I also would love to delete so those companies lose one more user.