Exploring Online Community Dynamics, with Nadia Eghbal

For our guest this week on Means of Creation we are welcoming Nadia Eghbal!

Nadia’s work has focused on the reputation-based economies that drive creator and open-source developer communities. She currently is the Head of Writer Experience at Substack and previously helped build open-source developer experiences (independently and at GitHub). 

Nadia also published a book earlier this year called Working in Public which explores open source developer communities and their implications on the creator economy. 

In this interview, we are going to talk to Nadia about:

• The key similarities & differences between writing a blog, a newsletter and a book
• The most unexpected challenge she’s seen writers face at Substack
• How successful writers balance the tension between cadence and quality
• How creator platforms like Substack are helping to rebuild the middle class
• How Substack is handling the challenges of moderation
• How open source creators end up shouldering software maintenance and community management, and if Substack writers face similar challenges
• And more!

Watch or Listen

We held this conversation live on Friday, December 7th. You can listen to the podcast here or watch the YouTube video below. Enjoy!

Note: signing up for the event signs you up for the Means of Creation newsletter.