Substack Introduces Paywalled Chats for Exclusive Member Engagement
On Wednesday, Substack announced a new feature that allows writers to restrict access to their entire Chat or specific threads, making them available only to paid or founding members. This development comes a year and a half after the company initially launched Chat, enabling writers to engage directly with their most dedicated readers.
Fostering Intimate Conversations and Reducing Trolling
By implementing paywalled Chats, Substack aims to create a more intimate and troll-free environment for conversations while simultaneously offering a valuable perk for paying readers. The company’s data indicates that readers who actively participate in Chats are 12% more likely to maintain their subscriptions.
Flexible Paywall Options
Writers have the flexibility to choose whether to paywall their entire Chat or select individual threads. When a writer opts to paywall their Chat, free subscribers and non-subscribers will receive a prompt to upgrade their membership to access the restricted content.
Image Credits: Substack
Enhanced Chat Interface and Navigation
In addition to paywalled Chats, Substack is enhancing the Chat interface to improve navigation within large groups. Users will now have the ability to search Chats, making it simpler to locate previous threads. The company is also introducing thread notifications and new reply badges to help users stay oriented within conversations. Moreover, Substack is upgrading its back-end systems to enable real-time loading of new Chats and replies, ensuring users can stay current on discussions about live events.
Substack Chat as an Alternative to X (formerly Twitter)
Since its inception, Substack has positioned Chat as a potential alternative to X (formerly Twitter), particularly in light of the platform’s tumultuous period following Elon Musk’s acquisition. The company emphasized this point in its recent blog post, stating that “many readers prefer the simplicity of Substack Chat to other platforms.” To support this claim, Substack highlighted a comment from a paid subscriber who described Chat as a suitable substitute for X.
Substack’s Twitter-like “Notes” Feature
Alongside Chat, Substack introduced a Twitter-like “Notes” feature last year, further demonstrating its efforts to compete with X. The Notes feature enables users to share various types of content, such as posts, quotes, comments, images, and videos, in a format reminiscent of Tweets. This short-form content is presented in a dedicated, Twitter-like feed.
3 Comments
So, now we have to pay to chat? Welcome to the era of monetized conversations!
Substack’s really locking down the conversation, huh? Guess it’s pay-to-speak now.
Oliver M. Foster: Putting your thoughts behind a paywall, Substack? Talk about elitist chatting.