AI
Sit quietly and read time: AI, Meta, money and… Tintin?
Some worthwhile reading gleaned from my open tabs over the Bank Holiday weekend…
substack
Posts about the newsletter platform that’s slowly pivoting towards a member-publishing aggregator.
cms
Your coffee reading, or the Monday linkdump
For your amusement and edification as you sip your coffee
audience strategy
Audience Strategy: further reading
Some links, mainly for my Audience Strategy students - but of possible interest to others.
Bluesky
The Bluesky explosion and the Substack trap
The Twitter offshoot is edging towards becoming an X replacement — and two old school web thinkers critique Substack
Local News
The Mill, The Bell, the Ghost and the future of local news
Mill Media's latest site eschews Substack for Ghost. That's great: the web/newsletter/subscriptions space needs competition, and a choice of platforms for publishers.
Google is on the naughty step
Its search engine is a monopoly — and Google is guilty of abusing that.
Social Media
News Roundup: De-politicising Threads and profitable Indies
Another round-up of audience news, derived from my sessions with my Audience Strategy students at City, University of London.
substack
Substack really has a Nazi problem now
In the couple of months since an Atlantic piece suggested Substack has a Nazi problem, the normally PR-savvy newsletter company has dropped the ball repeatedly. And both publishers and subscribers are quitting.
substack
Why I don't read the Press Gazette newsletter now
The problem with playing the platform game, even if it's a newsletter platform. And another reason to mistrust AI…
LinkedIn wants to connect with you, news
Plus Meta stitches Threads into Facebook, and Substack works around Musk’s headlines ban.
Social Media
Some notes on Substack Notes
Who is the new Substack feature serving? Plus the final nail in the coffin of the keyword from Google.
newsletters
Does it matter if Substack is in financial trouble?
Substack has managed to make itself all but synonymous with "newsletters". If the platform is struggling financially, could that have an impact on the whole newsletter ecosystem?