The Platform Era Is Ending
This Week In Writing, we discuss whether you should still own a website if you publish on Medium or Substack.
Last week, Shannon posted a question in My Writing Community. She asked, “If you write on Medium, do you also need a WordPress blog?” Over the last few months, my answer to this question has changed. But before we get to that, let’s take a quick look at what platforms are up to.
Twitter wants you to pay to play; now, Meta is following suit. Want a secure experience? Your posts to appear in people’s feeds? The platforms want you to pony up. These features used to be free. Now, they’re an upgrade. Why?
Ad revenue is done. User engagement is down. The platforms are trying to hold onto profits without providing additional features. You ask me, it seems like a losing game.
However, there are people who will pay. After all, Twitter and Facebook have been around for nearly two decades. I joined Facebook in 2004 and Twitter in 2008. That’s a lot of ingrained history, and these companies are literally banking on the fact that we all find it too difficult to leave.
Mastodon proves leaving is not only possible but much more fun.