Now Embracing Short Video
Formats and platforms can and should co-exist
This is why I don’t charge for this thing. I’m here every week for four months, then completely gone for five.
Hello there, it’s been a while.
What have I been up to? At Aspen Institute, we launched a new Instagram video series called Leading Voices. These are short-form interviews with leaders about leadership. We ask questions like: What’s the most important ingredient of great leadership? What’s something people get wrong or misunderstand about leadership? And, tell us what it was like when you first realized you were a leader. So far some of my favorite episodes have featured Reshma Saujani, Dan Buettner and Marlon Peterson.
I’m really proud of how these have turned out. Leadership is something our audience cares deeply about it’s the core of the Aspen Institute’s mission, and I’ve learned a lot myself watching them. I hope you’ll take a second to explore the series.
I’ve also been embracing Reels.
Years ago around 2012 when I first got an iPhone, I used to love catching little video clips around the city, editing them and putting music to them to create little movies and posting them to Vimeo.
Back then, the iPhone didn’t have a lot of storage so the clips were short, but you could capture enough to create a two-minute vignette pretty easily. I would edit them on iMovie and post to Vimeo.
This summer was the summer I rediscovered short video, after a long hiatus, and embraced Reels. For the first time in over ten years, I found myself favoring making video over still images, and it was because the video editing tools on Instagram are incredible, so intuitive and so fun to use. I went to the Dolomites and managed to create a couple of Reels and develop my film before even looking at the still images I took on my camera. This is a weird sort of scenario and the exact opposite of how I’ve operated for years.
I know this embrace of Reels is a bit of a hey boomer moment, but I realized that this is what Substack is now up against going into video, not to mention YouTube and Spotify.
Did Substack pivot to video?
Not entirely, but a week or so ago I saw a promotion for a live TV-type thing on Substack and it looks like they are now trying to position the brand as a sort of multi-format platform for creators (podcasting came previously). The push into video and podcasting won’t be easy for Substack, especially as Instagram (the giant) also positions itself as the platform for creatives. I’m always skeptical when organizations leave their core mission/audience in favor of some new big growth strategy. In my personal experience, this hasn’t ended well.
Pushing into video means competing with Instagram, YouTube, and Spotify, instead of owning the newsletter space. This will probably create a bigger opening for Substack’s competitors like Beehiiv to serve the core newsletter audience better and take over. Some true blue newsletter people I know have already moved to Beehiiv. I’ve thought about it and haven’t been compelled yet.
But also, live video? This format is just so hard. My experience with promoting live streams has always been a big letdown. People don’t watch live. They want clips to watch later, in their own time as they discover them. I learned this at Reuters.
The good news for Substack: People are rooting for it and deeply care for the platform. You can’t say that about most tech companies these days. Also, people yearn for good-quality newsletters, even if they also embrace other formats like Reels.
Formats and platforms can coexist.
Here’s some stuff I’ve been enjoying lately
Reading this Week
I may write a whole post about this next: Malcolm Gladwell Holds His Ideas Loosely. He Thinks You Should, Too.
YouTube is underrated — a huge part of the future of television.
Everything about The New Consumer is great.
Brands Prepare for 'The Great Exhaustion' of 2026. Sounds….exhausting.
The Art of Taking it Slow. There’s always something to learn from riding a bike.
Where did the term “skunkworks” come from anyway? Something I wrote for WITI.
Watching (Other than Slow Horses?)
I’m only a couple of episodes in but it makes the PBS Compass subscription well worth it.
More great Yeti propaganda, as always.
A beautiful look at an artist who fully committed.
Listening
This epic 123-hour mix from the Noguchi Museum Gift Shop.
Content Coverage Submissions
Worked on an interesting project? Seen a good video or have a photo project to suggest? Share your favorite pieces of content here and I’ll include the best in this newsletter.
Great stuff John, this one got plenty of goodies.