Hey - I agree with your insights here. Quick question: did you get access to the expanded Notes stats yet? I wonder how they will impact the algorithm now. I’m tracking similar data and experimenting with “suggested note” styles… I’d love your opinion on how you will use the expanded Notes data.
I miss my “friends” in my feed and feel it’s taken a toll on those relationships I had built - honestly it’s hit my confidence, too. When you’re most loyal people aren’t seeing or commenting on your work, feels kinda crappy.
Being a smaller account, my growth and exposure has only recently increased but it’s not from Notes.
Yeah Allison I have seen the expanded Notes stats! I could track them a little better, though. I actually don't really track them that much. I'm probably missing out. Have you noticed anything about them worth discussing?
It provides different stats for Notes than Posts. I think the feature only rolled out a few days ago so I need more data points but will do prelim analysis this week. I’m happy to update you if you’d like.
It may be interesting to compare insights between a larger account like yours to a smaller one like mine (although prefer “exclusive” to “smaller” lol). That being said, my results will be skewed as such.
So far, you’re correct and a lot of the common strategies need tweaking and shortening. I haven’t had as much luck with images. More interactions with timely responses plus mentions to quality accounts have higher impressions. But breaking those variables apart is TBD. Something about restacking posts seems different but not yet identifiable.
When I posted about it this weekend, no one knew what I was referring to! My guess is they were QAing Fri-Sat. The graphs were hilarious.
One important insight? My new subscribers don’t seem to be from Notes at this time.
Thanks for the latest insight. Bummer that posts with photos are doing well. I'm a wordy person and it's extra work to find or create the right picture to go with it.
Cali I hear you. I really hope Substack makes some changes or at least doesn't weigh photos so heavily like it's doing now. I'm on Substack to read at the end of the day.
Hello there Tom! Good to see your always helpful writing. Fellow past Medium writer here. Though I’ve only been here a day. I’m quite excited about some of those things I’ve seen so far. One of which is definitely notes. I like the idea that I can truly interact with other writers rather than just on their posts. Makes it feel more engaging so far. Thanks for the helpful article.
Welcome to Substack Jewel!! I remember you! It’s the best writing platform on the internet bar none. I think you’ll enjoy it. :) You’re still early! Still a lot of opportunity here.
I’ve been starting to play with photos since I heard you mention it. It’s so important for us to pay attention to what’s been shown and constantly test
Hi Tom. I am one of those small Stackers who had a video I shared go viral (it now has over 2,000 likes and they keep on coming). The video was something that was captivating to me—a Great Grey Owl flying in and landing at someone’s skis (I have a fascination with owls and am a nature lover and while the video was not my own, I wanted to share the love with my readers). Would I love my writing to get such traction? Of course, but I was happy this video received the love because…well…owls and nature. So there you have it. I can’t understand algorithms but it is what it is as they say.
Congrats Charlene! I must admit I do really like video and hope it gets its shine in the algorithm one day. I don't see so many videos but maybe that's because not too many people are posting them.
This is valuable information, thank you! My theory on the images is that people are tired and news-fried at the moment, so an image gives them a quick hit of joy/interest that doesn't require all the reading?
I'm wondering about frequency of posting. Does the algorithm like or penalize multiple posts in a day? Or multiple posts at one time?
Hey Marika! I don't think they penalize multiple posts in a day. I see a lot of people on Substack just blitzkrieging the algorithm with Notes every 30 minutes it seems. And they get traction! I think you're good.
I feel that Kristin. I look at Notes more like a pendulum than a story that has yet to be written. It seems to sway back and forth between two sides. I've seen my own Notes do well, do bad, then do well again. I have faith in Substack at the end of the day. All we can do is keep posting I guess.
They used to say, "Information is power." I don't think that is true anymore. Connection is power today. Substack gives us that opportunity in a beautiful way. I'm honoring Substack for the connection potential.
Hey Tom. Thanks for your insights. I’m one of those small non existent creators who had several notes go viral. But in the past couple of weeks my notes are largely not getting the type of engagement they were before. I could tell there was a change in the algorithm. Trying not to cry and think that this is a permanent change. Lol. 😫😂 I will give posting photos as a shot as that I do that rarely. I’ll have you know I posted a silly photo of my fries yesterday and that’s the only note of mine to get over 50 likes since a couple of days. 🤪
Wajeeha I noticed it, too. My Notes haven't been doing as well the last 2-3 weeks. It seems they make a pretty big change in the algorithm every month or so. I've been tracking my data since a year ago and this seems to be the case a lot of the time. I can see clearly a lot of times how my likes and comments change when a new month starts. This signals to me an algorithm change. The good news is, my likes and comments have gone down before, and they have come back as well. I'm guessing this is just a temporary thing.
Maybe! But it’s interesting because I saw similar trends across two different profiles that follow/interact with drastically different creators. Something is afoot!
Hey - I agree with your insights here. Quick question: did you get access to the expanded Notes stats yet? I wonder how they will impact the algorithm now. I’m tracking similar data and experimenting with “suggested note” styles… I’d love your opinion on how you will use the expanded Notes data.
I miss my “friends” in my feed and feel it’s taken a toll on those relationships I had built - honestly it’s hit my confidence, too. When you’re most loyal people aren’t seeing or commenting on your work, feels kinda crappy.
Being a smaller account, my growth and exposure has only recently increased but it’s not from Notes.
Yeah Allison I have seen the expanded Notes stats! I could track them a little better, though. I actually don't really track them that much. I'm probably missing out. Have you noticed anything about them worth discussing?
It provides different stats for Notes than Posts. I think the feature only rolled out a few days ago so I need more data points but will do prelim analysis this week. I’m happy to update you if you’d like.
It may be interesting to compare insights between a larger account like yours to a smaller one like mine (although prefer “exclusive” to “smaller” lol). That being said, my results will be skewed as such.
So far, you’re correct and a lot of the common strategies need tweaking and shortening. I haven’t had as much luck with images. More interactions with timely responses plus mentions to quality accounts have higher impressions. But breaking those variables apart is TBD. Something about restacking posts seems different but not yet identifiable.
When I posted about it this weekend, no one knew what I was referring to! My guess is they were QAing Fri-Sat. The graphs were hilarious.
One important insight? My new subscribers don’t seem to be from Notes at this time.
Thanks for the latest insight. Bummer that posts with photos are doing well. I'm a wordy person and it's extra work to find or create the right picture to go with it.
Cali I hear you. I really hope Substack makes some changes or at least doesn't weigh photos so heavily like it's doing now. I'm on Substack to read at the end of the day.
Hello there Tom! Good to see your always helpful writing. Fellow past Medium writer here. Though I’ve only been here a day. I’m quite excited about some of those things I’ve seen so far. One of which is definitely notes. I like the idea that I can truly interact with other writers rather than just on their posts. Makes it feel more engaging so far. Thanks for the helpful article.
Welcome to Substack Jewel!! I remember you! It’s the best writing platform on the internet bar none. I think you’ll enjoy it. :) You’re still early! Still a lot of opportunity here.
Well, that’s cool! Thanks for saying hi. Made me feel special! Have a great and awesome day.
Interesting insights.
Thank you for your research
Thanks for sharing these insights. Challenging to keep up with the changes, so this is helpful!
Thanks for reading Doug!
Great insights! Very helpful for us smaller accounts that are trying to grow and engage with a broader audience.
Amazing insights
I’ve been starting to play with photos since I heard you mention it. It’s so important for us to pay attention to what’s been shown and constantly test
Thanks for the algorithm updates and how it works. This will be nice for running our own experiments.
Happy to help Bruce. Cheers
Hi Tom. I am one of those small Stackers who had a video I shared go viral (it now has over 2,000 likes and they keep on coming). The video was something that was captivating to me—a Great Grey Owl flying in and landing at someone’s skis (I have a fascination with owls and am a nature lover and while the video was not my own, I wanted to share the love with my readers). Would I love my writing to get such traction? Of course, but I was happy this video received the love because…well…owls and nature. So there you have it. I can’t understand algorithms but it is what it is as they say.
Congrats Charlene! I must admit I do really like video and hope it gets its shine in the algorithm one day. I don't see so many videos but maybe that's because not too many people are posting them.
This is valuable information, thank you! My theory on the images is that people are tired and news-fried at the moment, so an image gives them a quick hit of joy/interest that doesn't require all the reading?
I'm wondering about frequency of posting. Does the algorithm like or penalize multiple posts in a day? Or multiple posts at one time?
Hey Marika! I don't think they penalize multiple posts in a day. I see a lot of people on Substack just blitzkrieging the algorithm with Notes every 30 minutes it seems. And they get traction! I think you're good.
It's hard to win a game when the rules change so often...sigh...thanks for the update, Tom. You "numbers" folks are a big help to people like me.
I feel that Kristin. I look at Notes more like a pendulum than a story that has yet to be written. It seems to sway back and forth between two sides. I've seen my own Notes do well, do bad, then do well again. I have faith in Substack at the end of the day. All we can do is keep posting I guess.
They used to say, "Information is power." I don't think that is true anymore. Connection is power today. Substack gives us that opportunity in a beautiful way. I'm honoring Substack for the connection potential.
Great insight and gives hope to us newcomers.
Hey Tom. Thanks for your insights. I’m one of those small non existent creators who had several notes go viral. But in the past couple of weeks my notes are largely not getting the type of engagement they were before. I could tell there was a change in the algorithm. Trying not to cry and think that this is a permanent change. Lol. 😫😂 I will give posting photos as a shot as that I do that rarely. I’ll have you know I posted a silly photo of my fries yesterday and that’s the only note of mine to get over 50 likes since a couple of days. 🤪
Wajeeha I noticed it, too. My Notes haven't been doing as well the last 2-3 weeks. It seems they make a pretty big change in the algorithm every month or so. I've been tracking my data since a year ago and this seems to be the case a lot of the time. I can see clearly a lot of times how my likes and comments change when a new month starts. This signals to me an algorithm change. The good news is, my likes and comments have gone down before, and they have come back as well. I'm guessing this is just a temporary thing.
Oh wow! How did you find my content plan for 2025?
I suspect these numbers drastically change depending on the niche. When you follow lots of "creators talking about content creation".
I've seen short notes dominate for a few months now. But images aren't so prevalent.
Differently from you I see more posts from the people I interact with. But it depends also on how frequently they post.
Maybe! But it’s interesting because I saw similar trends across two different profiles that follow/interact with drastically different creators. Something is afoot!