I appreciated your comparison between "liking" the content vs. "liking" the person. I do think the line between the two is often thinner than we realize. I'll admit to "liking" a post that I haven't read or finished just to show support to a writer I LIKE. :-) And I expect some people do that with my pieces, too. But for the most part, whether it's wise to do this or not, I equate likes with engagement. If someone likes a post, that says to me they read it and didn't hate it. And those are both good things for me to know. Likes becomes problematic when they're the sole force driving a writer's visibility. This is where it gets yucky, IMO. When writers need to court "likes" just to have their work show up in front of new eyeballs, that's a sign of a broken system based on the popularity of individuals and not necessarily the quality of the work. It's the same on Amazon, where you have to attain an absurd number of reviews just to appear in search results. It doesn't actually matter what those reviews are. People could be writing stuff like "good corndog" or "I love my new washer/dryer" and it would still give that writer a boost. That just makes no damn sense.
I did read this whole post, btw. And I also liked it. 🙂
If a like means you like something, what does no like mean?
My readership remains more or less constant. Not the number of subscribers, but the number of people who read what I write. I get a like "every now and then". Some, I know, are given out of politeness. But what about the non-likes?
I believe that if you challenge the reader in a certain manner, by tapping them on the shoulder yourself, rather than blaring in their face, it is possible to touch a nerve that keeps them coming back but stops them liking what you write. Like a good Sunday-morning preacher.
In a discussion on Notes recently, someone asked whether they can check whether their welcome e-mail gets read. Clearly, no one can check whether any e-mail gets read, and this seems to have escaped them (I advised them to let me know if they find out differently, and I would advise the FBI). In the past, you inserted an ad in a newspaper or put up a hoarding and waited to see whether your sales increased. If they did, you attributed it to the hoarding or the ad, because you had nothing else to attribute it to.
But, in my own case, I get a feeling that it's the lack of likes that is the mark of success. I preach a lot. But to no one in particular.
It is such an interesting question (I 'like' that you posed it! See what I did there). Likes seem to have picked up a bad press on Notes - to the extent that I second-guess myself now and I have been occasionally been nudged out of my inclination to appreciate something in that way (I'm a little annoyed with myself for being influenced this way). The wider point about how folk connect with your output is where 'likes' play such an important part in the hierarchy of 'connection'. Funnily enough, I have a non-Substack newsletter where 'likes' aren't possible so you are reliant on folk pressing {reply} on the email and saying something specific. Thank goodness they do!
Excellent writing.
PS, your sketches are amazing. Lucky you, good at words and drawing!
This is my first day (first hour) on Substack. I enjoyed your first two videos that introduce Substack and thought I’d look further. That’s when I read this bit on the “like” button -- well-written, informative and thought-provoking. Thank you.
I think the closest that the more “traditional” market has gotten to the like feature is Kindle Unlimited (and I’m guessing Nook’s equivalent). This is where authors can see the pages readers are flipping, and know where they stop in their books, or whether they finish it.
I have mixed feelings about the like button. I've tried to encourage people to hit "like" as they read my serial chapters, but haven't seen a consistent stream of that. I've focused more of my efforts on getting people to comment on my non-fiction posts.
Also, It is a travesty that I haven't motivated myself to set time to play Return to Monkey Island (I played the prologue last year when I bought it).
I am quite free with liking SubStack posts if I enjoy it and don't find anything that I overly disagree with. I hit that heart icon as a notification to the writer that 'I read it.' Straight-forward and good because I don't always have something to put into a comment.
On the otherhand I am sparing with my likes, or I think I am, on Notes. While it could mean the same as the long form like, 'Hey, I read it', I think it is more meaningful to read someone's long form work and restacking and commenting is a better metric to engagement on short form posts. (Someone subscribing from Notes is even better regardless of if they liked or commented on a Note.)
Simon. Each day, when I check Notes, I have an overwhelming sense of entering a safe place filled with friends - whether knowing everyone or not. Those little red hearts are fun and all but seeing writers post their work - well, that’s the best. It is better than the morning paper.
For me, it's all about recognizing that there are parallel tracks.
On track one is my writing, which is pure and personal. It's art, and it's not something I'm willing to bend to become more popular; these are the things I want to say each day.
On track two is my growing audience. If I'm interested in having a conversation with more people, i will need to "play the game" and interact with them.
The like button is, IMO, the "gateway drug" for folks to interact more deeply. I do appreciate the feedback, and I tend to get more likes when a piece seems particularly good to me, but engagement at a more meaningful level is the ultimate goal.
Sometimes, we should take a step back from the complexities and appreciate the simplicity of the 'like' button when used as a genuine response to someone's written work. It's a way of acknowledging and appreciating the effort and creativity that goes into sharing ideas and stories.
When used in the context of chapters, the "like" button is my savior. I can use the easy example of my Beyond the Wizard Substack where we are slowly working out way through every PD (Public Domain) Wizard of Oz Book. Right now we are nearing the end of Book 3 and will start book 4 immediately after.
As a way to "track" our progress and let each other know what we aren't reading the chapters alone, when we are finished reading a chapter we click the LIKE button. If there is something we actually liked or didn't like, then we drop it in the comments section. Every 1st of the month I send out the Oz Gazette that includes a snapshot of the chapter count from the first chapter. If you look at Book One you can see each chapter receiving upwards of 50+!
In truth, I started out using this "tactic" as a means to game the system and show a bunch of Likes. But when getting to book 2 I found myself falling behind dramatically. The reason is I wasn't giving myself incentive like everyone else had. Also, I created an "L. Frank Baum" account in order to associate each chapter to him instead of myself. Now that we are reading book 2 I am using my own personal account to Like each chapter because I quickly realized how using this Like system is actually helpful for me as I catch up and keep pace with everyone else. Turns out my two chapter per week idea isn't as easy to keep up with as I thought!
To make my long comment short, I am a proponent of using the Like button when it comes to chapters and for tracking. My only real issue with it is if I send out a chapter that is 3k words and I receive Likes within seconds/minutes of it hitting subscriber inboxes. I know that it's impossible for it to have been read and a conclusion met that they "Liked" it in that amount of time. Otherwise, by all means I think there is a time and a place for the Like button.
I also agree that we as writers should not give any weight to the Likes we receive and don't receive and instead put that amount of caring towards the comments instead. But as with all things, even comments should be read and listened to with a very small grain of salt. I see now why more popular writers will spend less and less time looking at review/comments when they reach that level. It can be exhausting and soul crushing after a time. So, enjoy whatever comments and Likes you get now as there may come a time in your writing career when you will have less and less time to do so. I'm trying to live my writing life like that now.
Likes are an important part of social signalling, something we do all the time in the real world without thinking about it. I agree with your distinction between liking a person and liking a thing that person's done – the former can become toxic, the second is a useful heuristic not just for the creator but for their audience too. Social proof – that is, seeing that other people are doing the thing we're thinking of doing – is massively important. I know some people say they aren't persuaded by large numbers of likes, but subconsciously your brain has registered them and will consider that information in future. So I'm largely in favour of likes, used well.
The power of the 'like' button
I appreciated your comparison between "liking" the content vs. "liking" the person. I do think the line between the two is often thinner than we realize. I'll admit to "liking" a post that I haven't read or finished just to show support to a writer I LIKE. :-) And I expect some people do that with my pieces, too. But for the most part, whether it's wise to do this or not, I equate likes with engagement. If someone likes a post, that says to me they read it and didn't hate it. And those are both good things for me to know. Likes becomes problematic when they're the sole force driving a writer's visibility. This is where it gets yucky, IMO. When writers need to court "likes" just to have their work show up in front of new eyeballs, that's a sign of a broken system based on the popularity of individuals and not necessarily the quality of the work. It's the same on Amazon, where you have to attain an absurd number of reviews just to appear in search results. It doesn't actually matter what those reviews are. People could be writing stuff like "good corndog" or "I love my new washer/dryer" and it would still give that writer a boost. That just makes no damn sense.
I did read this whole post, btw. And I also liked it. 🙂
If a like means you like something, what does no like mean?
My readership remains more or less constant. Not the number of subscribers, but the number of people who read what I write. I get a like "every now and then". Some, I know, are given out of politeness. But what about the non-likes?
I believe that if you challenge the reader in a certain manner, by tapping them on the shoulder yourself, rather than blaring in their face, it is possible to touch a nerve that keeps them coming back but stops them liking what you write. Like a good Sunday-morning preacher.
In a discussion on Notes recently, someone asked whether they can check whether their welcome e-mail gets read. Clearly, no one can check whether any e-mail gets read, and this seems to have escaped them (I advised them to let me know if they find out differently, and I would advise the FBI). In the past, you inserted an ad in a newspaper or put up a hoarding and waited to see whether your sales increased. If they did, you attributed it to the hoarding or the ad, because you had nothing else to attribute it to.
But, in my own case, I get a feeling that it's the lack of likes that is the mark of success. I preach a lot. But to no one in particular.
It is such an interesting question (I 'like' that you posed it! See what I did there). Likes seem to have picked up a bad press on Notes - to the extent that I second-guess myself now and I have been occasionally been nudged out of my inclination to appreciate something in that way (I'm a little annoyed with myself for being influenced this way). The wider point about how folk connect with your output is where 'likes' play such an important part in the hierarchy of 'connection'. Funnily enough, I have a non-Substack newsletter where 'likes' aren't possible so you are reliant on folk pressing {reply} on the email and saying something specific. Thank goodness they do!
Excellent writing.
PS, your sketches are amazing. Lucky you, good at words and drawing!
This is my first day (first hour) on Substack. I enjoyed your first two videos that introduce Substack and thought I’d look further. That’s when I read this bit on the “like” button -- well-written, informative and thought-provoking. Thank you.
I think the closest that the more “traditional” market has gotten to the like feature is Kindle Unlimited (and I’m guessing Nook’s equivalent). This is where authors can see the pages readers are flipping, and know where they stop in their books, or whether they finish it.
I have mixed feelings about the like button. I've tried to encourage people to hit "like" as they read my serial chapters, but haven't seen a consistent stream of that. I've focused more of my efforts on getting people to comment on my non-fiction posts.
Also, It is a travesty that I haven't motivated myself to set time to play Return to Monkey Island (I played the prologue last year when I bought it).
I am quite free with liking SubStack posts if I enjoy it and don't find anything that I overly disagree with. I hit that heart icon as a notification to the writer that 'I read it.' Straight-forward and good because I don't always have something to put into a comment.
On the otherhand I am sparing with my likes, or I think I am, on Notes. While it could mean the same as the long form like, 'Hey, I read it', I think it is more meaningful to read someone's long form work and restacking and commenting is a better metric to engagement on short form posts. (Someone subscribing from Notes is even better regardless of if they liked or commented on a Note.)
Simon. Each day, when I check Notes, I have an overwhelming sense of entering a safe place filled with friends - whether knowing everyone or not. Those little red hearts are fun and all but seeing writers post their work - well, that’s the best. It is better than the morning paper.
For me, it's all about recognizing that there are parallel tracks.
On track one is my writing, which is pure and personal. It's art, and it's not something I'm willing to bend to become more popular; these are the things I want to say each day.
On track two is my growing audience. If I'm interested in having a conversation with more people, i will need to "play the game" and interact with them.
The like button is, IMO, the "gateway drug" for folks to interact more deeply. I do appreciate the feedback, and I tend to get more likes when a piece seems particularly good to me, but engagement at a more meaningful level is the ultimate goal.
Gateways are useful.
Sometimes, we should take a step back from the complexities and appreciate the simplicity of the 'like' button when used as a genuine response to someone's written work. It's a way of acknowledging and appreciating the effort and creativity that goes into sharing ideas and stories.
your words and sketches are equally received with an out loud wow of gratitude. thank you for sharing your gifted works
When used in the context of chapters, the "like" button is my savior. I can use the easy example of my Beyond the Wizard Substack where we are slowly working out way through every PD (Public Domain) Wizard of Oz Book. Right now we are nearing the end of Book 3 and will start book 4 immediately after.
As a way to "track" our progress and let each other know what we aren't reading the chapters alone, when we are finished reading a chapter we click the LIKE button. If there is something we actually liked or didn't like, then we drop it in the comments section. Every 1st of the month I send out the Oz Gazette that includes a snapshot of the chapter count from the first chapter. If you look at Book One you can see each chapter receiving upwards of 50+!
In truth, I started out using this "tactic" as a means to game the system and show a bunch of Likes. But when getting to book 2 I found myself falling behind dramatically. The reason is I wasn't giving myself incentive like everyone else had. Also, I created an "L. Frank Baum" account in order to associate each chapter to him instead of myself. Now that we are reading book 2 I am using my own personal account to Like each chapter because I quickly realized how using this Like system is actually helpful for me as I catch up and keep pace with everyone else. Turns out my two chapter per week idea isn't as easy to keep up with as I thought!
To make my long comment short, I am a proponent of using the Like button when it comes to chapters and for tracking. My only real issue with it is if I send out a chapter that is 3k words and I receive Likes within seconds/minutes of it hitting subscriber inboxes. I know that it's impossible for it to have been read and a conclusion met that they "Liked" it in that amount of time. Otherwise, by all means I think there is a time and a place for the Like button.
I also agree that we as writers should not give any weight to the Likes we receive and don't receive and instead put that amount of caring towards the comments instead. But as with all things, even comments should be read and listened to with a very small grain of salt. I see now why more popular writers will spend less and less time looking at review/comments when they reach that level. It can be exhausting and soul crushing after a time. So, enjoy whatever comments and Likes you get now as there may come a time in your writing career when you will have less and less time to do so. I'm trying to live my writing life like that now.
Likes are an important part of social signalling, something we do all the time in the real world without thinking about it. I agree with your distinction between liking a person and liking a thing that person's done – the former can become toxic, the second is a useful heuristic not just for the creator but for their audience too. Social proof – that is, seeing that other people are doing the thing we're thinking of doing – is massively important. I know some people say they aren't persuaded by large numbers of likes, but subconsciously your brain has registered them and will consider that information in future. So I'm largely in favour of likes, used well.