What's Working On Substack Notes in February 2025

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

Wow! Substack Notes has, once again, changed so much since a month ago.

The algorithm changes more than Daniel Day Lewis between roles, and I’m here to give you all the updates on it.

In this article, you’ll find 9 new features of the Substack Notes algorithm I believe are influencing Notes right now.

How I did my analysis:

• I analyzed the first 30 Notes on the feed of both my

  Tom Kuegler
  profile, and my
  Thomas Kuegler
  profile (60 in total).

• I noted:

  • Post type (photo, video, chat, etc.)

  • Relationship (people I followed, didn’t know, etc.)

  • Virality (amount of likes)

• I also take my own Notes performance into account.

There’s two things to remember here.

For one, I did this analysis on February 18. Things might’ve changed slightly since then. Second, these points are theories, not facts. Only people at Substack know exactly how their algorithm works. I do feel pretty confident in my theories, though, so take that for what you will.

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

1) Substack Is Obsessed With Photos Right Now

If Substack Notes could be represented by a meme right now, it would be this:

Right off the top, there has been an explosion of photos/videos in the feed. Have you noticed it?

In December’s Notes Update, I talked about how 1 in 5 Notes in the feed included photos. Now, three months later, a staggering 1 in 3 Notes have photos in them. It’s a design decision I saw Chris at Substack talk about in a Note of his own a few weeks back:

Even though Chris said this was an accident, it seems obvious that Substack is prioritizing photos on the feed more when you actually look at what’s being shown.

Another important thing to “note” here is that most of the time when someone shares a photo, there’s very little text attached. It’s like, maybe a sentence or two and that’s it. This is proof of a larger theory I want to paint about Substack Notes in general..

2) Longer Notes Aren’t Getting Prioritized Anymore

Of the 60 Notes I analyzed, I remember seeing one or two with more than 150 words in them. This is massive news, y’all. I’ve never seen the Substack Notes algorithm prioritize content this short before.

It is truly bite-sized—nay—atom-sized.

This is one of the changes I’m not sure I like, to be frank. It makes my feed feel more like Twitter than a sophisticated platform for writers—where they can expand on interesting ideas at length and pour their souls out to their audience.

If this is indeed a conscious design decision, I’ll leave a flower on the grave of the earlier Substack Notes algorithm, which liked in-depth writing more. I’ll also pray that the Substack Note gods show their favor to longer writing again.

3) 85% Of Notes Are From People I Don’t Know

So, a whopping 85% of Notes in both my feeds were from people I didn’t follow or subscribe to. This is up from 40% in December. This is massive news that explains so much about Substack Notes right now:

1. My Notes aren’t getting shown to my *cough* thousands upon thousands of followers.

2. This change gives more opportunity to small creators.

Why?

Well, it seems that Substack is giving more space on the Notes Feed to smaller creators who less people know about than those with thousands of followers. They’re spreading the love around.

This is fantastic for you, readers, but not so fantastic for me I suppose.

It seems followers don’t mean much at all in the current Substack Notes algorithm.

4) 41% Of Notes Have Less Than 20 Likes

Here’s another statistic that proves my above point. I found that a whopping 25/60 Notes I analyzed had less than 20 likes.

This proves, for me, that Substack is recommending Notes from smaller creators a lot more in the feed so they can:

1. Get more exposure

2. Get more subscribers

I can’t remember seeing a “bestseller” on my feed more than once or twice out of the 60 Notes I analyzed, so that’s got to point to something here. Again, bad for me, but good for smaller creators!

5) 25% Of Notes Are Articles (Up From 20% In December)

This isn’t a gigantic change, but it’s worth noting. There are lots of articles being recommended in the Notes feed still.

I do like this part of the algorithm a lot. I think Notes are a good way to get free subscribers, but articles will convert people to free subscribers at a higher rate in general.

One in every four Notes is an article. I’ll applaud Substack for that.

6) People You Interacted With Recently Are Not Shown In The Feed Anymore

In December, I talked about how your feed showed you people you’ve interacted with recently.

That’s not happening anymore.

I’m barely seeing anybody I follow or subscribe to—much less engage with. Out of the 60 Notes I analyzed, only 9 of them were from people I followed.

In December, I wrote about how commenting is a great way to build your following on Substack, because the algorithm will show your work to people you recently talked to, and vice versa.

That’s not happening anymore. I don’t feel one way or the other about this change, really.

7) 50% Of Notes Creators Have A Subscriber I Know

So in your feed you can hover over the profile name of the Note writer and see if anyone you know follows them.

Here’s what I mean. 👆

Of the 60 notes I analyzed, 50% of the authors had a subscriber who I knew. That’s interesting, and shows the network effects that Substack loves to build in to their platform.

The algorithm, now more than ever, recommends you stuff that people you follow are liking or are subscribed to. Which brings me to my next point..

8) 40% Of Notes Are Recommended Because Someone You Know Liked It

25 out of 60 Notes I analyzed had the message “______ liked this” above it.

If you combine this statistic with the one from up above, you’ll realize that a whopping 90% of the Notes we see on our feed are there because of people we follow.

9) Followers Don’t Mean Much Right Now

Based on the data I’ve shared, it seems Substack have nerfed the power of “followers.” It’s a little weird just how much they nerfed it, too. You’d think that on a more “relational” platform, they wouldn’t almost completely stop showing you people you follow.

It’s just a little too much of a change that, respectfully, doesn’t make much sense to me. This was the problem with Medium. They nerfed the power of followers so much that I couldn’t even get in front of .05% of my audience every time I posted an article. I really hope that doesn’t happen here. This explains why my Notes haven’t done as well as usual this month.

Lessons To Take With You

Here’s a few things to remember with all this information.

• The Notes algorithm will change - Sometimes it changes so much I have to edit these monthly algorithm updates before they go live. This is just a snapshot of Substack Notes right now, and things will change.

• Photos are doing well - If I were you, I’d be sharing an image with almost every Note I write.

• Bite-sized Notes are winning - Give us more very short Notes. Quick updates. 4-5 sentences at MAX. That’s what seems to be working right now.

• Keep engaging - Always be engaging. This will help you win more followers and subscribers, and show up more on the feeds of those you don’t know.

• Small creators should have a field day - If you’re a smaller creator, you could be having a field day right now. Make sure to use my NoteSmith tool to help you edit your Notes into viral pieces. It’s never been more important to do that than right now.

• If you’re bummed, wait out the storm - For those who are upset with the current algorithm, wait it out. The team at Substack is awesome, and they’ve been known to test things out all the time. The algorithm will continue to ebb and flow in different directions, and your time in the sun will come once again.

If you liked this Notes update, give this article a like/reshare! :)

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