“A day in the life”
Do the niche world of newsletters offer an alternative to the endless Twitter scroll?
“I hope this letter finds you in the best of health
As for myself I’m doing well
And P.S. with or without you, I can’t get enough
That’s why you’re my favorite stuff.” …. ‘the Letter’ -Outkast
A recent reminder from Twitter got me thinking about the social network.
Twitter is just not the community it used to be and I have found myself becoming more immersed in newsletters, for what Twitter once provided.
I have been using Twitter since 2009 and I have generally enjoyed it as an interest network, where it would surface all sorts of curious items including new music and reading recommendations. But, lately, the endless scroll seems to be taking it’s toll along with the relentless amplification of negativity, outrage and overall less interaction and banter, has lessened it’s charm and community feel.
And it’s not just Twitter, the only remaining reason for hanging on to my Google+ profile, used to be the non fiction addiction Google community which was once more active, but an increased number of members appears to have reduced the number of weekly postings.
I have tried out curation apps like Zite and Flipboard, but for some reason they never kept my attention and I have just started testing out the latest app, refind to see how useful it may prove. They have an ambitious plan:
The web has fundamentally moved us forward. Most notably, it has given us access to the world’s information and there are currently three main ways we discover an ever-growing amount of content: news, social networks, and search. We believe that a fourth category is missing: relevance—a calm, quiet place where we take a step back to focus on what’s most relevant to us.
But in the meantime, I have been delving into the world of newsletters and I have been pleasantly surprised by not alone their quality, but the community they invite the reader to. This was something that Clive Thompson touched upon last year in this Wired post:
“The best newsletters are all like that: places online where one can talk — and listen — in private.”
I think I now have almost reached a point where each day of the week is set up to bring something worthwhile into my inbox with curated recommendations on a wide range of reading subjects, to peruse.There are a few newsletters that I think are worth highlighting and there are many others out there, on this list from Product Hunt, that I subscribed to initially but I found myself dropping them again not long after.
‘Love will save the day’ comes along each Friday morning, with a uplifting playlist and thoughts on music culture, this particular edition playlist is still my favourite.
Duncan Geere’s email usually drops on a Saturday morning, with a bumper list of articles to read and fascinating data visualisations. It looks to have “The best maps, clouds, links, and dog videos on the internet each week, curated with care and attention.”
Duncan sets a delightful tone in his email and is extremely good at communicating his thoughts, on a wide range of subjects. After subscribing you immediately begin to feel like part of the community and interaction is much encouraged.
I have really grown to like the intimacy that a newsletter offers. I’ve had a lot of conversations with interesting people that I wouldn’t have had before I started it. That’s a real plus for me, and makes it easily worth the non-negligible amount of time I spend on it each week — Duncan Geeere
His newsletter has become one of my favourites and there is always something in it, worth reading:
Although I am not a designer or a developer, there is always something of interest in Assaf Arkin’s weekend reading, a tech bundle loaded newsletter with coding tips and what’s happening in the world of web development, to best practices for Github and documentaries about working on the web.
While not exactly a newsletter as such, it is worth mentioning a Sunday morning email from the music blog Goldflakepaint brings a recommended slow playlist, that turns out is the perfect pace to cook the Sunday roast to!
Monday, is when Tobias Van Schneider, usually shares his newsletter with curious opinions on everything from what drives his startup ideas, life as a designer to general observations on working on the web, his most recent post is a really good example of one of his thoughtful observations:
The breaking point. The phase I believe we’re in right now. It’s the time people start going back into gated & more private communities. It’s the time people put their Twitter profile and Instagram profiles on private, join their favorite “invite only” Slack communities and only engage in conversations if they’re in a private group setting on Facebook
Tobias incidentally pointed me to another worthy newsletter, called the Brain food from Shane Parrish (Farnam Street) which comes packed with links to writing and book recommendations. It also often contains items to ruminate over for the week ahead.
Tuesday in my time zone, I tend to pick up Benedict Evans’ newsletter, which is different from the others I mentioned so far, in that it seems to have a one to many relationship, an one way conversation but it has good coverage of general tech news that I may have missed. (I used to follow Benedict on Twitter but found his feed, favourites and retweets used to dominate my timeline, probably because of Twitter’s latest algorithm.)
Tuesday also brings the weekly Hotpod newsletter about podcasts, containing “news and analysis on the emerging podcast and on-demand audio industry.” ‘Pocket hits' pops in 3 times a week with reading recommendations based on how many times Pocket users have saved particular posts.
I cant really remember how I came across Joanne McNeil’s newsletter but it pops into my inbox during different days, each week with thoughts on everything from insights from Blade Runner, thoughts on other movies in general to book reviews.
Other newsletters come out less frequently, on a monthly basis such as Oisin Lunny’s Meetups and Mixtapes who mentioned to me the motivation about his newsletter, was he never stopped making mixtapes and finds his newsletter is the best way to send them these days.The Journal, is another, a monthly newsletter from Kevin Rose with carefully curated links. My most recent subscription has been to Maddd Science, A weekly dispatch of links exploring how genre fiction and culture shape each other. This is by Adam Rowe, who is someone I follow on Twitter and Instagram for sharing neat sci-fi art, especially from the 70’s.
I guess the newsletter just feels more personal and more akin to blogging, in that the creators are not selling something? Are there additional newsletters out there that are noteworthy?
P.S. If you would like to get an email digest of the best links I’ve found this week, try this refind link
Peaches living in niches,
Digging the scene like beautiful cliches .... ‘Rush Minute’-Massive Attack
