Conor Friedersdorf

@thebestofjournalism · The Best of Journalism · Substack profile · News

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Conor Friedersdorf has 30,577 followers on Substack as of Nov 1, 2026. On the latest board read, Oct 31, 2026, they were #79 on Substack's News Bestsellers board. 54 publications recommend them, 1 of them new in the last 30 days, and they recommend 16.

Followers read 6 days ago · Boards read 6 days ago

Last read Nov 1, 2026 (UTC). Followers are not email subscribers. Substack lists only the newest 50 recommendations for each publication, so a recommender count of 50 or more is a floor. History starts Oct 31, 2026; Substack publishes nothing earlier.

Followers: 30,577; read Nov 1
Last 7 days: first number on Nov 7
Last 30 days: first number on Nov 30
Subscribers: 19K+; rounded by Substack
Paid subscribers: Thousands; bestseller badge 1,000+
Recommended by: 54; +1 in 30 days
Recommends: 16
Bestsellers rank: #79; News

Followers by day

Tracking since Oct 31, 2026. 2 days of readings. Substack doesn't publish past follower counts, so history starts the day I first read a writer and grows by one reading every 3 days (daily if it's on your watchlist). The 7-day change appears on Nov 7, the 30-day change on Nov 30. Recommendation dates below go further back: they're Substack's own.

One reading a day, the last of the day. Marked: leaderboard steps (into the top 25, top 10, or #1). Followers are people who follow Conor Friedersdorf on Substack; they aren't email subscribers.

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Daily readings
Date	Followers	Change	Subscribers	Paid band
Nov 1, 2026	30,577	+15	19K+	Thousands
Oct 31, 2026	30,562		19K+	Thousands

Leaderboard positions

Board	Rank now	Best on record	Reads on it
News Bestsellers	#79	#79	4 of 4

Rank on each read

Rank on each read of each board. Each cell is the leaderboard rank; empty means not in the top 100.
Writer	Oct 3107:00	Oct 3113:00	Oct 3119:47	Nov 621:50	Move
News Bestsellers	79	79	79	79	0

I read every board once a day.

Recommendations

54 publications recommend Conor Friedersdorf; 1 started in the last 30 days. Conor Friedersdorf recommends 16, and 2 of those recommend back. Lists read Oct 31.

The 9 largest publications on each side, by followers. Bigger dot, more followers. Orange: started in the last 30 days. Gray dots: publications I don't track, so no follower count.

When the recommendations started

Live recommendations by the month each began, using Substack's own start date. Removed ones aren't listed by Substack, so they don't appear. Substack shows only the 50 newest recommenders, so before Jun 2025 (outlined) I see only those from the 6,392 publications whose full lists I read.

Show as a table

Recommendations started per month
Month	Started
2022-10	1
2024-12	1
2025-06	4
2025-07	6
2025-08	2
2025-09	5
2025-10	5
2025-11	4
2025-12	4
2026-01	5
2026-02	2
2026-03	2
2026-04	2
2026-05	4
2026-06	2
2026-07	2
2026-09	1
2026-10	2

Recommended by

The Fifth Column89k followers · started Oct 2022 · mutual
Peter Suderman32k followers · started Dec 2024 · mutual
Benjamin Ryan13k followers · started Jul 2025
Robert lynch1.1k followers · started Oct 2025
Kirsten's Substackstarted Oct 30, 2026new
Nina's Substackstarted Oct 4, 2026
Robert's Substackstarted Sep 28, 2026
The Sound Economics Letterstarted Jul 20, 2026
Paul's Substackstarted Jul 12, 2026
Eli's Substackstarted Jun 26, 2026
Cytoplasm4475's Substackstarted Jun 2, 2026
Caleb's Substackstarted May 25, 2026
Sean's Substackstarted May 19, 2026
Rohingya Orphan & Community Relief Network (ROCRN)started May 18, 2026
Steve's Substackstarted May 12, 2026
Melati's Substackstarted Apr 24, 2026
margaret's Substackstarted Apr 20, 2026
Who We Need To Bestarted Mar 19, 2026
Jane's Substackstarted Mar 9, 2026
Pam's Substackstarted Feb 22, 2026
Edward Louis Goldstarted Feb 1, 2026
BoostWorthy on Substackstarted Jan 26, 2026
Elizabeth's Substackstarted Jan 25, 2026
Scott's Substackstarted Jan 13, 2026

All 54

Marc's Substackstarted Jan 11, 2026
Christine's Substackstarted Jan 8, 2026
Katelyn's Substackstarted Dec 17, 2025
Tamara's Substackstarted Dec 17, 2025
Capitalism by Designstarted Dec 17, 2025
Baley's Substackstarted Dec 2, 2025
Unpackedstarted Nov 20, 2025
George's Substackstarted Nov 12, 2025
To The Lusosphere And Backstarted Nov 8, 2025
Stavroula's Substackstarted Nov 2025
Serega's Substackstarted Oct 2025
Dr's Substackstarted Oct 2025
Loren's Substackstarted Oct 2025
Ahmadi_saib's Substackstarted Oct 2025
Supreme Ignominystarted Sep 2025
Jacqueline’s Substackstarted Sep 2025
Judy’s Substackstarted Sep 2025
Thom’s Substackstarted Sep 2025
John’s Substackstarted Sep 2025
Gisela’s Substackstarted Aug 2025
Seion’s Substackstarted Aug 2025
Ellington’s Substackstarted Jul 2025
Catherine’s Substackstarted Jul 2025
Paul’s Substackstarted Jul 2025
Science Fiction Talkstarted Jul 2025
Mark’s Substackstarted Jul 2025
Declarations of Independencestarted Jun 2025
John’s Substackstarted Jun 2025
Stan’s Substackstarted Jun 2025
Peter’s Substackstarted Jun 2025

Recommends

The Free Press2.6M followers · started Apr 2022
Matthew Yglesias365k followers · started Apr 2022
Andrew Sullivan354k followers · started Apr 2022
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar331k followers · started Apr 2022
Scott Alexander300k followers · started Apr 2022
Jesse Singal230k followers · started Apr 2022
Josh Barro171k followers · started Apr 2022
Freddie deBoer168k followers · started Apr 2022
Persuasion133k followers · started Apr 2022
The Fifth Column89k followers · started Apr 2022 · mutual
Peter Suderman32k followers · started Nov 2022 · mutual
Vicarious Travelstarted Sep 2025
Breaking the Newsstarted Nov 2022
Arc Digitalstarted Apr 2022
Year Zerostarted Apr 2022
Feminine Chaosstarted Apr 2022

Substack lists the 50 newest recommenders of each publication. I add every recommendation found in the full lists of the 6,392 publications I read, so writers with many recommenders may still be missing a few small ones. "Started" is Substack's date.