What can Substack do for you?

Photo credit: Susan Q Yin, Unsplash

I get it. If you’ve come across Substack recently on your internet travels and dismissed it as something that’s not for you. I understand, I really do. Last year I was equally sceptical. In fact I rolled my eyes and declared that I had better things to do with my time and that I certainly didn’t need another internet place.

But then I was curious, I created an account to have a browse and slowly but surely I was hooked. It’s now, hands-down my favourite place to hang out on the web. It’s free of adverts, there are no promoted posts and you get to see posts from only those people that you are interested in - sounds good? Why not grab a coffee and let me try to convince you with a few basics.

Full disclosure: I enjoy Substack as both a creator and a consumer. The former takes the form of my Everyday Knitter Substack. Obviously I’d be thrilled if you took a look there and maybe even subscribed, but today I’m focusing on what Substack can do for you - the curious and creative reader

1. First of all, it’s not just a place for authors. In a brilliant analogy Sarah Raad of the Gather & Grow substack compared Substack to a library full of books and interesting things. Not everyone who uses a library is an author, or a writer. In fact most people who set foot in a library don’t want to write anything, they just want to read. They want to explore, they want to stay curious. Let’s face it, we all love a good mooch around the bookshelves. Substack is like that - a place to have a good mooch with no one bothering you.

2. Think of it less as a social media platform (it isn’t) and more of a blog aggregator. Remember the golden days of Blog Reader? When you could not only follow all your favourite blogs in one place, but you could also see via their blog roll all of the other blogs that they read. You could happily while away half an hour hopping from one blog to another. You could leave comments, have chats and make new blog friends. Substack is like that - a place to gather blogs you want to read in one place.

3. You can have real conversations, with real people - just like you. I mentioned that you can comment on blog posts, but as well as that other people can comment on your thoughts too. Real life conversations can happen, sparking connections that just don’t seem to happen anywhere else. If you’ve ever tried to carry on a conversation in the comments on an Instagram post you’ll know what I mean. Often you end up resorting to DM which is great but then no one else can join in with your juicy insights.

4. You are in control. You can have new blog posts emailed to you or you can read them on the app or website. Some people read everything in their inbox and rarely venture onto Substack. Some opt out of the emails and read everything on the app. The choice is yours to use it how you want it. Some people save them up and pop in once a week on a Sunday morning - the Substack equivalent of having a coffee in bed with the Sunday papers. Just much more enjoyable and inspirational.

5. Did I mention you can chat? As well as conversations that happen on blog posts there’s also a section called Notes. People can post anything here - snippets of their day, a view of their workspace, a favourite recipe or a book they’ve just finished. It’s a bit like the best bits of Twitter - with nicer photos and more words.

And best of all, it’s entirely free to use with no adverts or pop’s up. It’s a clean, simple interface that lets the words and images do the talking. Speaking if which, I’m going to stop waxing lyrical now and let the words (links) do the talking.

Why not pop across to Substack and have a little look around - just tap on the link below to explore. You’ll be taken to my Substack page. The first tab towards the bottom of the page will show you my recent posts or check out the third tab where you can see other blogs that I read and recommend.

You have nothing to lose and you might just see something that catches your eye.

Thoughts on Threads

I know it’s not the most startlingly original title but after 2 nights of poor sleep on the sofa (husband has Covid and I’m trying, desperately not to catch it) it’s the best I’m going to get.

So, it’s been a week since Threads, the new social media platform from Meta, hit our devices and I thought I would just do a little summary of what it is and how it’s working for me at the minute.

This is written with the huge disclaimer that, as ever, your mileage may vary. Not everyone wants to sign up to a new Zuckerberg-led thing and nor should they. We are all adults here, so do your own research first and if you do want to join or to find out more then please grab a seat and a coffee and let’s chat Threads.

Speaking of coffee…

If Instagram is your picture-perfect, glossy shop window think of Threads as your coffee break. Picture yourself leaning up against the counter, coffee mug in hand chatting to your customers or to your co-workers. If water coolers still exist (do they?) this is very much in the spirit of a water cooler moment.

For the time being at least it is refreshingly simple and uncluttered. Mercifully, for us Reel-avoidant types there is no audio so it’s blessedly silent. There are no hashtags so it’s visually uncluttered. And there are no adverts, promoted posts or suggested trending topics.

Now, obviously all of those things I’ve just mentioned have their place and Meta have already said that they will be adding more features shortly, but to be honest I’m finding the stripped back nature of the platform really enjoyable.

I’m finding people organically through their comments on people I follow and it’s easy to hop back over to instagram to check them out. Pro-tip if you see someone,s Instagram profile and there’s a long number in their bio, that’s their Threads joining number. You can tap that and their Threads ‘about page’ will instantly pop up (as long as you have the app installed).

In a very noisy online world, Threads offers a quieter, calmer alternative and it’s something that people seem to have really resonated with. Over 100 million users in the first week and climbing steadily. Yes it’s a bit random and a bit chaotic, but my goodness it’s refreshing. Interestingly I’ve noticed that people I’ve followed for ages on Instagram but never see (thanks algorithmn) are suddenly popping up again. It’s a bit like a high school reunion, only with people you like.

I’m finding lots of new Instagram accounts to follow and it works the other way too. I’ve definitely seen a surge in follower numbers in the past week as we all chat and check each other out.

Will it last? Who knows. Social media platforms by their very nature will change and innovate, but for now at least Threads is offering something different and fun. It won’t replace my Instagram any time soon but I’m definitely finding it to be a more positive and less toxic place than Twitter - and long may it continue.

What do you think - have you checked it out yet? Do let me know in the comments if you have, or say hi on Threads. I’ve always got a pot of coffee on the go.

Articles you might find interesting

What is Threads?

How to use Threads

Security concerns

I'm now on Substack

It’s been a long while coming. I think I created an account on Substack nearly two years ago - and then promptly sat on my hands and did nothing with it.

But, something about the shifting seasons, the coming of spring and - let’s be honest - the dire state of Twitter right now - has made me dust it off and read all those articles explaining what Substack is and why I should be using it.

My regular weekly newsletter isn’t going anywhere, please don’t worry. But that newsletter, while I love it, is pretty much focused on yarn and knitting with the odd snippet of ‘other stuff’ thrown in there for good measure.

With my Substack I want to do something a little bit different. There will still be knitting and yarn - obviously - but I want to explore some of the other aspects of my online and real life. We are all made up of many parts and have varied interests and I’d like to be able to write about all the aspects of my life. Not just the woolly bits.

My first post goes up today, so please do pop over and check it out. And if you’d like to subscribe, posts will go directly to your inbox so you don’t have to search for them or worry about missing them.

When the universe has your back

Blanket is the Garter Ripple Squish with 3 strands of sock yarn held together

Do you ever have one of those moments/weeks where you just feel a bit overwhelmed? Pulled in so many different directions at once. So many things whirling around in your head that you don’t know where to start?

There are many parallels that I can draw between knitting and tarot (two of my favourite things to do during quiet moments). That’s a blog post for another day, but sometimes - quite a lot in fact - the daily card that I draw has a habit of being uncannily on the nose.

This was the card I drew the other day - the Seven of Wands - which is all about finding courage and inner strength. It’s also a really great reminder to look to yourself for advice and help - not to rely on others for support. To be your own guiding light as it were.

I took this as a signal from the universe to undertake a mass unsubscribe from a ton of business-y type email lists. Things I’d signed up to, to get free worksheets or PDFs. Things that were filling up my inbox with a metric ton of (often contradictory) advice. The ‘must do’s or even worse ‘must not do’s’ were starting to put me on edge and make me doubt myself.

So I spent a happy hour unsubscribing from lists, as well as muting or unfollowing a bunch of accounts on social media that were just getting to be a bit too much. And boy, do I feel better for it.

A good spring clean was just what I needed to freshen up my socials and to give me lots of new ideas and inspiration to follow.

It made me think about the issue of seasonality and social media. I know that the accounts I follow in autumn/winter are perhaps very different from the ones I want to see more of as spring approaches. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing necessarily. All things go through seasons - including ourselves - and so to me it makes sense to have that reflected in my social media feeds.

What do you think? Do you like to see the same things all year round or do you find yourself going through ‘seasons’ too?

Why everyone needs two-factor authentication

Yes, I know. It’s not the most obvious knitting topic and also, not the most glamorous of subjects but it is so, so important.

If you are wondering what on earth two-factor authentication (2FA) is and why you should care please just read on. Give me two minutes of your time and hopefully I can persuade you why it’s important - not only for your own internet security but for your friends and the knitting community at large.

Put simply, 2FA is a way of making sure that when you log into your social media account (whether its Twitter, Instagram or Facebook) that you are who you say you are. If you are anything like me you probably stay logged in to your commonly used apps. Only having to sign back in when you log out for whatever reason or you access the app from a different device.

Having 2FA switched on means that when you do this there’s an extra level of security attached so that the app can be sure it’s you accessing Instagram from a new laptop - and not a hacker trying to gain access.

You can choose to have this via a text message sent to your phone (although Twitter, controversially only allows this for blue tick accounts now), or you can use one of the many free apps available - Google authenticator is a good one and Authy also is widely used.

Once these are switched on (look under the security settings of the relevant app) you’ll be prompted to enter a code if you log in from a new device, or if you’ve previously logged out for whatever reason. There’s a great summary here.

A salutary tale:

If you are reading this thinking that you are always careful, you have a strong password and you rarely log out of apps, please read on. I consider myself to be pretty internet savvy but on the day in question it was my Dad’s funeral (or possibly the day before, I can’t honestly remember) and I was on Instagram when a message popped up from a friend (or so I thought).

She had managed to get herself locked out of her IG account and could I please send her one of my backup codes.

Now of course, in the cold light of day I recognise this to be a scam. It wasn’t my friend at all, but a hacker who had accessed her account and was no doubt sending the same message to all those who followed her so that they could hack as many accounts as possible.

But I wasn’t thinking clearly, I wanted to help my friend and without really thinking I DM’d her my code. Instantly there was a pop up text from my 2FA service saying ‘is this you trying to log on from xxx location’

Of course, then I realised how foolish I’d been and how close I came to losing my IG account (and 10 years of photos).

But my point is that it’s so easily done. And once a hacker has access to your account they can wreak untold havoc.

So yes, it might only be your knitting account where you share photos of your yarn and cats. But in a hackers hands they can use it to continue their attack on people in your friends list too.

Turning on 2FA takes just a few minutes, but it doesn’t just protect your own account, it helps to protect everyone you are connected to online.

Social media - what a difference a year makes

This time last year I was in a very different place with regard to social media. Things with Twitter had reached breaking point and called for drastic action. I nuked my account and started again from scratch.

And it proved to be such a great decision. In the space of a year I have rebuilt my account to roughly the same number of followers as I had with my 9 year old account.

The difference being that I ruthlessly curated the content I saw there, and crucially the content that I interacted with. Mindful of the fact that Twitter will share my likes/retweets with others I was careful not to interact with content that others might find triggering - Brexit, Covid and other hot button issues in the UK.

Not that they aren't important, but I knew how fragile my own mental health was feeling coming out of the pandemic and that the only way I could stay on Twitter, and enjoy being there was by being strict about what I allowed into my bubble. Knitting, otters and funny cat memes are the order of the day now, and my day is far better for it.

Please note this is different to putting my head in the sand. I stay informed by reading and from trusted news sources. What I don’t need is to be sand blasted by the hose of other people's opinions and hot takes.

This time last year, my Instagram by contrast felt completely dead in the water. I felt similarly stifled but couldn't bring myself to delete my account, as anyone who has painstakingly inched over the 10k followers threshold will understand.

Instead I cut back the number of accounts I followed to almost zero - and started again. Just following those whose content either uplifted, inspired or entertained me. Drastic yes, but my goodness it was like a breath of fresh air.

Side note though - it did earn me a shadow ban for a few weeks as I deleted more follows per day than the algorithm was happy with, so I’m not sure I can entirely recommend it as a course of action.

As we moved into 2023 though, things started to feel different yet again. The whole twitter atmosphere has undoubtedly changed as a result of the site’s new owner and a lot of people have either left or are interacting far less on their accounts.

Instagram by contrast feels a lot more vibrant - the Reels are obviously here to stay and maybe, who knows I’m actually starting to like them a little bit. It feels as though people are allowing themselves to relax and let go of the quest for Instagram flatlay perfection a little bit, and embrace the fun and more spontaneous side of the platform again. Instagram have also responded (finally) to concerns about account security and have introduced a new system for helping people to recover hacked/locked accounts.

What will this year bring? Who knows quite frankly but change is inevitable, it always is.

Now more than ever it’s important to connect with people on more than one platform, or via email/DMs. Rumours of Twitters imminent collapse are almost certainly exaggerated but it does no harm to make sure that you are subscribed to your favourite folks’ newsletters, just in case something drastic were to happen.

I know there are a few alternatives to Twitter popping up - Mastodon and Hive being the two that I have come across - and created accounts there. But honestly, the thought of starting again from scratch on another social media platform is more than I can bear right now. I want to spend less time on social media in 2023, not more.

How about you? Have you used one of the Twitter alts, and if so what do you think of it? Do drop me a comment and let me know.

And if you’d like to make sure you stay abreast of what I’m up to please do subscribe to my weekly email. I try to share snippets from the online world that have caught my eye, what’s on my needles and general random thoughts that I might not get around to sharing anywhere else.

And my other online hangouts are:

Twitter - as EverydayKnitter

Instagram - as LouiseTilbrookDesigns