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