The End of Social Networks

And the rise of newsletters

You're on vacation, visiting a new restaurant, or see the perfectly framed photo. You whip out your phone and capture it. Your first thought is to share it, not with your close friends or family, but with hundreds, maybe thousands of people on social media. After sharing it, you collect likes, like coins in a Mario game. Maybe you'll even garner a few comments. But the more our social networks grow and the more we bid for likes and comments, the more empty we feel. What if there was something that gave you the feelings you're searching for without the vapid emptiness? A technology 30+ years old: email.

When I say email, of course I mean newsletters. This idea is nothing revolutionary. The newsletter revolution is here, and some say past its peak. I don't think that is true.

Going back 15, 20, 25 years—the dawn of social media was exciting. It was a place to truly meet people, not just gather your coins (likes and followers). My first foray into social media was AIM. It was quickly followed by Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, Myspace, Facebook, Path, and Twitter. While most of those do not exist and the rest are pure shit, social media is not only here, it's what most people look at as soon as they open their eyes and right before they close them. I was truly excited for social and was hopeful for its future. Now that the future is the present, I am not here for it.

As usual, I am likely in the minority with my opinion. Most people love their time on Instagram and TikTok, but I have never felt so empty as I have after endlessly scrolling a social feed. For me, the light at the end of this endlessly scrolling tunnel has been newsletters.

I started this newsletter 4 years and 9 months ago. It has been the longest project I have ever worked on, and it's been great. I love sitting down and writing this every week. I hope you enjoy reading it.

My love for newsletters has grown so much that they are essentially my only real social network anymore, and I feel so much better because of it. Rather than reading 280-character microblogs and watching 15-second to 1-minute videos, I read thoughtfully written pieces about diverse topics. There is no algorithm, no endless feed, just an email delivered at a semi-consistent cadence, right to my inbox. That level of quality and agency trumps any form of social media. And because the followings are generally smaller, there is more engagement, from me and my readers. The relationships feel like real relationships and not just dopamine exchanges.

Am I advising you to get rid of all social media? In a perfect world, yes. But that is not the world we live in. Some social media is not optional. We all need a LinkedIn and we generally need an Instagram account because local companies use it as a website. What I do recommend is that you do not keep any of these apps on your phone and only log into them when you need to.

You might be thinking—but what about social content that is not writing? What if you don't want to write, just share photos, video, or audio? Most platforms and newsletter services allow that. While I am a proponent of writing and do not think any form of media comes close to it, newsletters have outgrown the constraints of text. Whether you are using a platform like Substack or using another service, they likely support various media types. Yes, there is friction in it. It's not as fast or seamless as launching Instagram, pressing plus, adding a few words, and pressing share—but that's exactly the point. Friction leads to higher quality, more intentional output.

In addition to going all in on newsletters, I recommend you host your newsletter on your website, rather than using a service like Substack. While, as of writing this, I am using Substack, I don't plan on staying forever.

I have two primary reasons:

1. While Substack does let you own your list, it makes you jump through hoops to import subscribers from external sources. I gather subscribers from a few places and they are opted into receiving this letter when they sign up, but every time I import them I have to go through a manual approval. It's my list, let me import as much as I want. Right now, I have to wait 5-10 business days to email new subscribers.

2. Your links of your letters and the cross-links within them are linked to that domain—in this case Substack.com. So moving off of a platform becomes challenging.

Not only do I plan to continue to use newsletters as my primary social platform, I also plan on going all in on it for business. For the last 5 years of running my consulting business, I have done almost no outreach, social media promotion, or paid ads. In previous business ventures, I did, and it never yielded anything of value for me. Mainly because I tend to swim against the current. I cannot be fake in social posts or make viral videos. It just doesn't work for me. But I can write and I do very well with closely fostered relationships.

So I plan on creating a marketing funnel, designed 100% around written content. I will do manual, intentional outreach on LinkedIn, providing free and valuable content, with a newsletter signup being the only cost. That will kick off an email campaign that will provide that lead with free and paid value adds. They'll even have a chance to sign up for a discovery call or a paid 1-hour workshop. I am still working out the details, but this workflow will match my type of personality and be ethical and humane, which are key values of the way I do business.

Social networks are not going anywhere, whether we want them to or not, but we don't have to be slaves to them. There is a medium that is richer, more intentional, and more humane. It is built on a technology which is a foundation of the internet and will not go anywhere. So if you feel like modern social is not bringing you true value, stop using it. Cold turkey delete accounts, only keep what feels essential, and subscribe to a few thoughtful newsletters. The newsletter revolution is still happening and it’s not going anywhere.

P.S.: If you're nostalgic about the old internet — the internet that was around at the dawn of social media — give We Need To Rewild The Internet a read.