Most people think Substack Notes is like X. All you need is to:

• post short-form content

• stay consistent

• show-up

It’s not to me.

Yes, Substack Notes has this social media element, but it works very differently. Here are some examples:

• Distribution

  • X: You see what the algorithm decides you should see

  • Substack: You see the Notes of everyone you follow or subscribe to, plus everything they interacted with

• Viralitypotential

  • X: Your post needs to significantly outperform to go viral, which from my experience happens when your audience grows

  • Substack: a good Note can go viral even if you have a small audience

• Growth potential

  • X: you (veeery slowly) grow followers, which you cannot reach directly

  • Substack: you (steadily) grow subscribers on your list - people, who you can reach directly

• Engagement

  • X: I see targeted promotions

  • Substack: I see meaningful conversations

• Writing

  • X: I see a lot of sales-driven transactional stuff

  • Substack: I see a lot of purpose-driven valuable stuff

So if you post Notes and interact with other people, you grow your chances of being seen exponentially.

On Substack Notes, you’re not just posting—you’re communicating with your subscribers and reaching potential new ones.

That’s why writing matters.

It’s not the average social media short-form writing where you share your thoughts or share links. It’s an atomic version of your email. So if you write what you’d send to your subscribers you’ll get higher engagement.

It’s a mini email. Treat it as such.