Dear reader,

After reading Garbage Language, I resolved to make an honest effort to stick with real, common language, and to avoid buzzwords and bullsh*t as much as possible. It's not easy! Especially since the main thing that Readup needs to do right now -- build a flywheel and grow -- is a complex puzzle that seems to lends itself to metaphorical language. Let me see if I can break it down:

There are two Readups. Readup on Chrome (laptop or computer) is very different from Readup on iOS (iPhone or iPad).

The Readup Chrome extension automatically imports all of your reading to Readup. You basically just peruse the web as you normally would, and Readup is there when you finish articles to (1) congratulate you for actually finishing (2) connect you with other readers and (3) show you, overall, how your reading behavior is improving with time.

Readup on iOS is completely different. It feels more like a separate space, some kind of digital living room where a group of readers are passing a bunch of excellent articles around. It's more immersive and more distraction-free. To import articles, you leave Readup find stuff worth reading and send back to Readup.

We think that this is causing a lot of unnecessary confusion, and we think we know how to fix it. Here's the plan:

We're considering a huge change to the Chrome extension, so that it's always off except when you click the Readup button in the browser window. That button will activate (1) reader-mode and (2) the tracker. You shouldn't read without reader mode. And Readup shouldn't track anything except what you want it to track, by opting in, on an article by article basis.

There's a huge technical upside to this work, which could amplify our growth. Making this change would greatly simplify the extension and allow us to roll out versions for Firefox, Safari and Edge very quickly. It would also more deeply establish our claim to be the most privacy-forward social platform on the web by switching to an opt-in model.

Per usual, don't hold back.

Bill

PS Like a maniac, Jeff built and shipped the v1 Twitter integration in less than a week. If you already signed up for the beta, I'll be in touch with you in the next 24 hours. If you haven't yet signed up and you want to be among the first to experience Readup + Twitter, email me ASAP (bill@readup.com) and I'll squeeze you in. </p>