Substack updates its peer-to-peer recommendation system, the company was announced today. With this new update, Substack helps authors help other authors expand their reach and potentially gain more subscribers and followers, as the company now allows authors to curate and share a list of publications they can subscribe to their readers.
In a blog post, the company says the change represents a step forward and away from an era of social media based on “centralized discovery and control.” By allowing authors to recommend a network of other authors to their subscribers, Substack promotes a peer-to-peer recommendation system that will in turn help authors grow their audience. Most social media networks currently use algorithms for their recommendation systems, but Substack focuses on allowing authors to curate their own recommendation networks.
Now, when a reader subscribes to someone’s post on Substack, they’ll see the option to join a pack of people to follow based on the author’s recommendations. In the past, this screen would show a maximum of three posts recommended by the author. Now, readers will see a list of as many posts and profiles as the author wants to recommend.
Readers can select or deselect the people or posts they’re interested in, and then their feed will begin to include notes and posts from people in that network.
Image Credits: Understack
Substack says the update will help authors build goodwill with other authors, helping them reach more people, while also helping readers curate a worldview. The platform will show authors how many subscriptions and followers they have driven for people in their network.
The company says that recommendations on the platform drive 50% of all new subscriptions and 25% of new paid subscriptions. Substack notes that early data shows that its approach to suggestions increases both the number of subscriptions and followers that publications and users receive.
Substack also announced today that more than three million readers subscribe to paid newsletters on its platform, up from two million a year ago.
As Substack looks to develop its recommendation system, the company saw a controversial start to the year, as it revealed it would not be banning Nazi newsletters on its platform. Substack CEO Hamish McKenzie he said though Substack bans posts with “incitement to violence”, will take a “decentralized approach to content moderation”. As a result of this attitude, notable authors such as Casey Newton and Ryan Broderick decided to leave Substack.
