<
https://slate.com/technology/2024/06/newsletters-substack-writers-parasocial-relationships.html>
"“I consider you my friend.”
I looked at the name of the email’s sender to see if I recognized it. This
wasn’t the first time I’d received a personal message like this from one of my
10,000 newsletter subscribers. Over the course of six years running a weekly
newsletter for freelancers, I’ve read everything from confessions, complaints,
and demands, to life stories—grievances of all kinds really—and expressions of
support and appreciation. Among the positive feedback was a subcategory of
emails that was at once flattering and unsettling: “You’re my friend.”
On one hand, what newsletter creator wouldn’t want their work to resonate with
their audience so much that it drives them to reach out? On the other, how does
a creator navigate the responsibilities and expectations of a parasocial
relationship that formed without their buy-in? Is it now their obligation to
not just provide customer service, but be a “good friend”?
“If someone takes the time to cross the digital void, the least I can do is
respond,” Ryan Broderick, the creator of
Garbage Day, a newsletter devoted to
web culture and technology with over 70,000 subscribers, told me. He explains
that even if someone writes something mean, the fact that they took the time to
write anything at all, and write it privately, is an honor."
Via
Garbage Day: Cargo cults for autocorrect
https://www.garbageday.email/p/cargo-cults-autocorrect
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
