MarkSwi

Bringing the most culturally relevant people to Substack.
Head of Partnerships, Canada at Substack. Ex-YouTube, Google, MTV, MuchMusic

[ellis 🍔 @hamburger]

Biiiig ambitions from Substack's @chrisbest :

"Our aspiration is having Substack become the intellectual and culture capital of the internet...

...and it feels like we're on track for that"

more in today's https://t.co/I5onBAbRSD

[Substack @Substack]

@compositioning Read the article: Drake’s Secret Double Life as a Contemporary Art Historian, from AJ Winter and Compositionally Inclined @compositioning https://t.co/eh1gquNKqW

[Jeremy Foster Berke @jfberke]

Substack has the 10th most visits for a US news site in April, ahead of NBC news and just behind google. Pretty wild for an 8 (!) year old company.

[Substack @Substack]

How paywalling her Substack gave @Emily_Sundberg a “secret club” where thousands of her readers could connect

[MarkSwi @markswi]

@andruyeung Piano piano

[MarkSwi @markswi]

@Jacobsklug Should we start a Substack for you?

[MarkSwi @markswi]

@MichaelMofina @internetvin This would make an amazing Substack

[Chris Best @chrisbest]

It's true, having a subscriber list moves books.

This is because a subscriber is a more real connection than a follower, but also because more people on Substack care about depth and substance.

[Timothy B. Lee @binarybits]

@martyswant @Substack @beehiiv @Ghost I switched from Ghost to Substack in 2022 and have been happy with the switch. More features, less hassles, and (most importantly) strong network effects that have driven subscriber growth.

[Tetragrammaton @tetranow]

NEW EPISODE: “You have to let people ask questions. You have to let people challenge the received wisdom, even if they're wrong, even if they seem crazy. I think that's a crucial part of a free society, and Substack has been that.” -@chrisbest of @Substack

0:00 Chris Best
0:24 The Problem with Media and the Birth of Substack
2:24 Writers as Heroes and the Need for Independence
3:15 Vision vs. First Step: A New Economic Engine
5:27 From Idea to Product: Paid Newsletters
7:28 Starting Small and Product-Market Fit
10:33 Platforms, Algorithms, and Distribution
12:14 Email, Ownership, and Connection to Audience
16:09 Free vs. Paid, Incentives, and the Business Model
18:41 Journalism, Independence, away from Institutions
31:02 Building a New Social Layer
1:04:29 Platforms, Power, and the Fight for Creative Independence

[MarkSwi @markswi]

@thesamparr Sesame Street dictionary I meant. Red cover.

[MarkSwi @markswi]

@thesamparr The Sesame Street encyclopedia is the greatest of all of them.

[Substack @Substack]

Gmail changed how tracking pixels work, so open rates are reading lower across every email platform

Your audience hasn’t gone anywhere—this change has had no impact on actual subscriber behavior. Click-through rates, delivery, and engagement have all remained stable. These, along with new subscriber counts, unique views, and paid conversion rates, are the clearest signals of genuine, high-quality engagement and whether people are truly connecting with what you're making.

Email may continue getting less reliable. We can’t control how email providers operate, but this is exactly why we are investing in the Substack app, which delivers posts and Notes directly to your audience. On Substack, you have a direct line to subscribers, on a platform whose business model only works when yours does.

[MarkSwi @markswi]

@thesamparr When we launching your Substack?

[EMILY SUNDBERG @Emily_Sundberg]

Between Anthropic hiring a video director for $250k, and WSJ announcing that their video team is now 65 people, I think it's a really good time for young people to learn how to shoot and edit video.

Tech companies and legacy media companies are investing in GOOD video teams

[MarkSwi @markswi]

@joshgonsalves_ When are we launching your Substack?

[Substack @Substack]

This month, we’re shipping a range of updates that give you more control over your publishing workflow—from Notes scheduling, to new live video tools, post templates, and design details that make your publication feel unmistakably yours. Here’s what’s new 🧵

[MarkSwi @markswi]

@ShaanVP Send it

[MarkSwi @markswi]

@canada_spends April Fools is really touchy this year