Announcing a New Blog Feature: Subscription Tool

I’m happy to announce a new feature on my blog: a subscription tool. In this blog entry, I’ll explain which tool I opted for, how I chose it, and why I decided to add this feature to my blog. I’ll also discuss future changes coming to my blog. I hope you find it enlightening!

Which tool did I opt for and how did I make my choice?

The subscription tool I chose for my blog is powered by follow.it, which is owned by a company called Inisev that provides open-source technology solutions and is dedicated to charitable giving. I chose follow.it based on its cost, its features, and its easy configuration. As for cost, I’m using the free version of the tool, also known as the basic plan, although paid options are available. I’m happy with the features provided with the plan I chose because I’m allowed unlimited subscribers and messages. A full outline of the features and pricing of all the available plans are on the follow.it website.

Another reason why I chose to use follow.it is its easy configuration. With only one step causing me confusion, I found the process of creating the subscription form and embedding it into my blog to be fairly simple. The one difficulty I had was with the step called “feed claiming.” However, my difficulty was resolved through just one email exchange with customer service.

If you’d like to learn more about how to use follow.it, I recommend checking out the company’s help pages. I read through every topic before making my choice, and I found the material easy to read and understand. I think you will, too. I should note that I’m not a paid endorser for follow.it or its owner Inisev, although Inisev does offer endorsement opportunities if you’re interested. That said, you may find that other subscription tool options are better for you.

The follow.it logo (displaying this logo in no way implies a relationship, affiliation, or endorsement by follow.it of my product, service or business) (follow.it Brand Assets/Inisev)

Why did I add this tool to my blog?

With the addition of this tool, readers can have each new blog entry I write delivered directly to their email inboxes. I subscribe to several Substack newsletters, and I enjoy finding out right in my email inbox when updates to these newsletters are available. I thought that such a feature might be helpful for my readers, too.

Another reason I’ve added this tool is to eliminate my reliance on social media to announce my new blog posts. Until now, I’ve relied on announcements to Facebook and LinkedIn to let readers know a new blog post is available. Because several years ago I took steps to make Facebook work better for me, trying to avoid its more negative aspects and focus on its positive ones, I felt my system of announcing my blog posts through social media was working well. However, over the past year, that opinion has changed, and I now find myself wanting to rely less on Facebook as a means of communication. In fact, I’m considering the timing of when I will exit the app entirely (I have enough to say about this that it could be its own blog post in the future!). Because I want to exit Facebook, I needed to find an alternative method for announcing my blog posts, and this subscription tool seemed to be a good solution.

Another factor I considered in adding this tool was whether subscribing might be onerous to my readers. I suppose if I posted to my blog multiple times each day every day, subscribers could feel overwhelmed by receiving too many email notifications. However, because I post to my blog roughly once per month, subscribers can expect to receive just one email monthly, which hopefully won’t seem onerous to anyone. And the sign-up procedure is simple, too. Just find the tool in the right menu of my blog, enter your email address, and click subscribe. Or, you can scroll to the bottom of a blog entry, click "subscribe," and follow the steps. Easy!

Future changes to my blog

My desire to exit Facebook comes amid a reexamination of all my technology use. I first became concerned about using Facebook when I realized how wealthy Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, which in turn owns Facebook, has become. According to Forbes’ daily list, at the time I'm writing this he’s the third richest person in the world, with a net worth of $235.5 billion. I don’t begrudge anyone monetary success, but to me, this seems excessive.

When I thought more about this issue, I realized that Zuckerberg is not the only tech leader to have amassed huge wealth. According to the Forbes daily list that cites him as the third richest person in the world, as of the time I’m writing this, nine of the top ten richest people in the world are in the technology industry, and they are all worth $150.5 billion or more. What business practices have these people followed to compile such wealth? And what are they doing with that wealth once they’ve compiled it?

I haven’t been happy with the answers to those questions. In many cases, the ethical choices I would make in their situations have not been the choices they’ve made. As one example, many of the donors contributing to destroying the East Wing of the White House and replacing it with a ballroom are involved in the tech industry, as reported by The Hill, a non-partisan print and online news source focused on government and business. Amazon, Apple, Google, HP, Meta, Micron Technology, Microsoft, Palantir Technologies, and T-Mobile are all tech companies included in the list of donors. I oppose this action to destroy a part of American history and the way it has been carried out, so I oppose these companies financially supporting it.

Interestingly, I use products from several of these companies in creating, posting, and publicizing my blog. I’ve already mentioned my use of Facebook, which is owned by Meta. I write on an HP computer using a Microsoft operating system and software. (Apple could be a viable alternative to the Microsoft operating system and software, but like Microsoft, Apple is on the list of donors.) My blog platform is powered by Google, and I embed my blog into my website, which is also powered by Google.

How much I will be able to avoid these technologies going forward and what that will mean for my blog remains to be seen. For now, I’m taking steps to avoid Meta in announcing my blog posts, and I’ll be investigating alternatives to the other technologies I use as well. As my mantra goes: one foot in front of the other. Stay tuned for future announcements as I figure out which changes I will make and how.

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