Jacob Wolf
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jacobwolf.bsky.social
Jacob Wolf
@jacobwolf.bsky.social
solutions engineer @ beehiiv | former award-winning investigative journalist | software developer, cat dad, amateur pitmaster
Reposted by Jacob Wolf
Not so much the content (which is actually great, free registration) but I'm proud to work for the company that provides the technical foundation for so much indie journalism www.status.news/p/status-tur...
Status Turns One
One year ago, we took a leap. Twelve months and hundreds of scoops later, here’s what we’ve learned and where we’re headed in Year Two.
www.status.news
August 12, 2025 at 10:52 PM
I’ve seen three threads on the NextJS & React subreddits in the past two days about cron & job running and what people use for them. I’ve used Inngest & it’s fine.

But I struggle to take JavaScript seriously as an enterprise grade backend language until it has this figured out. Thoughts?
January 24, 2025 at 10:05 PM
As people look for Substack alternatives, I’m happy to chat about beehiiv.

I was a part of Substack Pro’s journalism grant program and left the platform after my grant ended, feeling very limited for growth. Chose beehiiv & now work here after really loving the product and the team.
December 18, 2024 at 1:39 AM
Reposted by Jacob Wolf
I spent the first half of 2024 totally flat growth wise, but after about six months of cycling through the cruft of passive readers Substack funneled at me I saw real tangible growth unlike anything I ever saw on Substack. Other writers I've spoken to said they went through a similar transition.
December 17, 2024 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by Jacob Wolf
I went with Beehiiv because they were cheaper and easier than Ghost and I wanted to use their metrics to really drill down into who my readers were and what they wanted. Beehiiv has since rolled out some basic community features that, in my opinion, are more powerful than Substack's.
December 17, 2024 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Jacob Wolf
And, once again, the growth you're seeing on Substack is not real. Many writers are terrified to lose access to Substack's recommendation system, but it's just numbers. It's totally passive. If you want a real audience, go get a real publishing platform and find it.
December 17, 2024 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Jacob Wolf
If you want to be part of a conservative social network fine, but you're not building anything real. You're giving them 10% of your revenue to fund their culture war and they're going to keep locking your audience behind their walled garden. There are many alternatives and they're all fine.
December 17, 2024 at 5:31 PM
Reposted by Jacob Wolf
Substack juices your numbers in several ways:

-Their signup page is purposely confusing. Many readers don't realize they've automatically signed up
-There are waves of [firstname][lastname][zipcode] emails that come in and mysteriously vanish.
-And the Substack app converts readers into "followers"
December 17, 2024 at 5:29 PM
Reposted by Jacob Wolf
I've written about this elsewhere, but the longer you're on Substack the harder it is to move. I've been on Beehiiv for a year now and I'm really happy I made the switch. The "growth" Substack is showing you is absolutely not real and you will find that out very quick when you leave the network!
substack just announced a new enterprise media offering (whatever that means) in partnership with bari weiss’ website “because of its commitment to pursuing high-integrity journalism.”

if you’re still publishing there, it’s time to get the fuck out.

on.substack.com/p/the-new-me...
The new media, powered by Substack
Partnering with The Free Press to better support media organizations
on.substack.com
December 17, 2024 at 5:27 PM
We just shipped Bluesky sharing & embedding features and I believe we might be the first newsletter platform to do so?

Another great reason to be on beehiiv. We’re platform agnostic and want to help you grow where you want to.

product.beehiiv.com/p/gift-a-sub...
Gift a Subscription 🎁
Share the gift of quality content this holiday season.
product.beehiiv.com
December 12, 2024 at 7:55 PM
As a former Substack Pro member, I have to ask: If you’re a serious journalist or media publisher still publishing there, why…?

You’re a cog in a wheel. The yeast for the breadwinners, feeding others growth and limiting your own.

mail.bigdeskenergy.com/p/death-by-t...
Death by a thousand substacks
If you’re not a breadwinner, you’re the yeast.
mail.bigdeskenergy.com
December 10, 2024 at 9:10 PM
Seen a few TikToks about Buffalo Trace supposedly being hard to find?

I didn’t look for it when I went to Spec’s or Twin Liquors last week, but is that true? Or is it just some marketing scheme?
December 9, 2024 at 5:48 AM
Any fellow devs use RubyMine? If so, how does it compare to TypeScript’s Intellisense in VSCode and Ruby LSP?

Often find myself wanting to know more about what available methods exist on certain Gems, but it’s not always easy to click into them and get the answer. It’s TypeScript’s best feature.
November 29, 2024 at 2:37 AM
If you hadn’t seen, @beehiiv.bsky.social announced a multi-million dollar commitment today to helping journalists go independent.

Our new program is headlined by some amazing journalists: @oliverdarcy.bsky.social, @ryanhatesthis.bsky.social & Catherine Herridge.

www.tubefilter.com/2024/11/15/b...
beehiiv is investing millions on a hunch that newsletters are the next newsrooms - Tubefilter
The newsletter platform beehiiv is appealing to journalists with a program that addresses their basic needs. The brand-new beehiiv Media Collective is a coalition of writers who will share their thoug...
www.tubefilter.com
November 15, 2024 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Jacob Wolf
BREAKING VIA ABC: The woman at the center of the DOJ's probe of Rep. Matt Gaetz testified to the House Ethics Committee that he had sex with her when she was 17 years old, sources say. Time to pull this grotesque Gaetz nomination!
Tell your Senators: Oppose Matt Gaetz for Attorney General
Please contact Congress now!
actionnetwork.org
November 14, 2024 at 9:39 PM
As a former journalist, I definitely still have remnants of my Twitter addiction. But I’ve spent less time on social media this year than any year prior and that’s a great feeling.
November 14, 2024 at 12:26 PM
Testing, testing, is this thing on?

Happy to be on Bluesky! 😎 I’m an award-winning journalist who writes The Jacob Wolf Report and produces TV and podcasts.

Follow my work here:
The Jacob Wolf Report | Substack
An inside and often investigative look at gaming, esports and the people and companies that drive the industry. Click to read The Jacob Wolf Report, a Substack publication with thousands of readers.
www.JacobWolf.report
July 5, 2023 at 5:29 PM