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

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/twitter-threads-and-remote-work-with-eugene-wei/id1661672738?i=1000621483289

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X / TWITTER:

@noahpinion

@eriktorenberg

@turpentinemedia

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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