What is note?

A new form of social media

note was released in April 2014. That was already five years ago. I remember well how excited my fellow bloggers and I were at the time of its release. Why were we so excited? Because it was equipped with a mechanism to charge for content.

Until then, micropayment systems that allowed for small payments for content, similar to "tipping," had appeared and disappeared many times. It is no exaggeration to say that there was almost no other way to monetize content—that is, to create content and make money from it—other than by posting advertisements (such as Google AdSense or affiliate marketing).

note appeared to leap over that wall and make charging for content a standard practice. As of 2019, I imagine there is a considerable number of people who "buy content on note" or "pay for content on note."

When people think of note, they tend to focus on the payment mechanism, but for those of us who have been creating content for a long time, that is merely a result—an outlet for the content. What is important is the entry point for the content. In other words, how easy it is to create content, and how easy it is to read that content.

If content isn't created, it won't be read, and if content isn't easy to read, it won't be read in the first place.

I have recently come to feel again that the service name "note" is truly inspired. After all, it's a "note." Some people might be reminded of the free-form notebooks they used in elementary school or the college notebooks they used as students. note is exactly that: a notebook. A blank space. A place where you can write anything.

A place where miscellaneous yet creative content gathers... what else could you call this if not a note?

note is freedom

note is free. Because it is free, there are times when you need to come up with your own ideas. You might even feel that having constraints, like the 140-character limit on Twitter, is better. But I believe creators are gathering on note precisely because it is a blank space, a place where you can draw anything.

Conversely, you can also create your own constraints. For example, "write a 300-character diary entry every day," or "post only a photo of your dinner with a short comment." Whether it will be read is unknown. But please think of note as being that free.

Right now, a blank space on the internet has opened up before you. It might sound a bit cold, but what you write is up to you. How you write it is also up to you. But there are hints. In this book, I will introduce many tips on how to write on note, so please take that first step. Nothing will start unless you take that step!

Did I sound a bit too cool writing that?
But I would be happy if you felt like, "I'll give it a try!" (Kogure)