The Future of Media with Noah Smith and Chris Best, CEO of Substack
Today on Moment of Zen, we're airing a conversation with economist Noah Smith and Substack CEO Chris Best discussing the evolving media landscape. They dive into whether Twitter's dominance is waning, what features a successor platform would need, and how artificial intelligence is set to transform media as we know it. This conversation originally took place live on Noah's Substack: https://www.noahpinion.blog/
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RELATED LINKS:
Eugene Wei's Status as a Service: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service
Twitter, Threads, and Remote Work with Eugene Wei:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1zSxuEAgUUlptJHNEr2Q7O
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HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DISCUSSION:
Breaking News Platform Concept
- Noah proposed Substack could replace Twitter's former role as a breaking news hub by recruiting OSINT specialists and citizen journalists to create live blogs
- These would function as both real-time updates and daily digest newsletters, solving the chicken-and-egg problem of audience vs. content
AI's Impact on Media
- AI will serve as a "force multiplier" for writers rather than replacing them entirely
- Key applications: summarization, curation, and search enhancement
- Writers may use AI teams to amplify their unique perspectives and research capabilities
Platform Evolution
- Twitter's decline attributed to the shift from chronological to algorithmic feeds (pull to push media)
- The "age of Twitter" for breaking news lasted roughly 2011-2023
- Substack currently excels at day-after analysis but lacks real-time news capabilities
Geopolitical Concerns
- Noah expressed pessimism about US competitiveness against China due to population size (4x difference)
- Concerns about weakened alliance systems under recent US foreign policy
- Worries about falling behind in electric/battery technology due to policy and cultural resistance
Content Abundance Problem
- Both noted the challenge of infinite content creation vs. scarce attention
- Emphasized importance of choosing content that shapes who you become, not just what you want right now