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Do you *like* Twitter?

Twitter is a great way to build a brand, follow what other makers are are up to, and hopefully to make some friends.

Personally, I'm getting tired of many people focusing on their follower count though, it feel so incredibly shallow. That's what makes Hacker News and Indie Hackers different for me, you get thoughtful replies from people not trying to "gain another follow".

I'm looking for some different perspectives. Do you like Twitter, or use it because there's no alternative for the things it does best?

  1. 13

    Recently it's become more obvious that a lot of people have read 'how to grow on Twitter' courses. But what do you expect when one of the messages we hear so often is 'I had an audience to sell to' and 'grow an audience'?

    Not that there's anything wrong with it. It just doesn't feel that genuine when you schedule retweets of your own tweet 12h later and show your twitter metrics each month.

    Having said that, there are some great people to follow on Twitter. You just need to make sure that you curate who you're following.

    One of the great things about twitter is seeing (and joining) small conversations about topics, achievements, and products that wouldn't work well in more 'formal' places like IH or HN. There's less friction.

    1. 1

      Very well said, thank you for sharing. Different platforms are better for different things.

      1. 1

        That's a very good point Dave. I was leaning more towards Peter's point here in questioning myself how much effort should I put into building a large audience in twitter in case that would be a good strategy for creating more 'authority' in the space and ultimately reflect into the trust clients would have on my business.

        But the twitter is really a platform that incentivizes interactions (regardless of the ultimate goal of the interaction being to get more followers) - so there's definitively value in the way that the communication naturally evolves there.

  2. 8

    I used to hate it but I started sharing my journey and it changed my perspective. It's all about the people in your circle. By focusing on sharing vulnerable and honest posts, I attracted people like me. Now I feel like I have a tight group of folks with whom I share mutual respect and appreciation.

    So I'm growing my audience, but having fun and meeting great people in the process.

    1. 2

      I specifically find your content really great, you are where my wife and I want to be in a few years (but in Bali/somewhere warm)

      1. 2

        Thank you so much Simon 🙏

        Sharing the same dream with my wife is one of the best things in my life. Let the 4 of us meet in Bali someday 🔥

        1. 2

          Great points here. I'm still figuring out what is the ultimate goal and achievements I want to get out of twitter - but what I'm getting from the discussions I've been having is that if you put it as part of a "healthy hobby" bucket it can be an enjoyable process that not necessarily has a 'return' but it's a meaningful and interesting project by the output you get out of it (connections, interesting content, ideas, etc.).

          It's also a great way to improve writing and communication skills to be concise and objective.

          1. 1

            Hey Leticia, that's exactly right.

            But since your product is targeting startups (like mine), then it can be an actual growth strategy as well.

            I'll write a post about it soon, but I'm basically spending 100% of my time on twitter now. I grew from 200 to 1100 followers in 2 months, and sales of my product have finally started going up from this.

            Twitter can be incredible.

            1. 1

              That's awesome. You have to trust the process right? I'll see you there then :)

          2. 1

            And my husband @derekgallimore I live in the Philippines for almost 5 years now. We are happy to be touring you around southeast asia in case you consider coming to this part of the world :)

            1. 1

              Oh that's so cool! I'm always amazed at the great connections we can make here. Noted!

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                Although where you are based doesn't seem to be a bad location... ;)

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                  Haha right. You guys are invited too 😁

  3. 3

    As a creator, I hate its algorithm.

    If you don't spam regularly your messages will not reach many people. Lot's of people who has 10k+ followers complains that if they're not posting every day then their Tweets don't have views.

    I don't like this rush to create content all the time – quality content takes time and effort.

    Speaking about that – I tried those "grow your audience" etc. techniques and it works. Yet it feels uncomfortable to me to post some simple tips every day.

    It was okay for few months when I had lots to say but now when I said everything should I repeat myself?

    Twitter also taught me how to write better, shorter messages. As a non-native English speaker writing every day was a great exercise.

    1. 1

      Share the feelings on the benefits of incentivizing to be a better communicator.

  4. 3

    I don't particularly like it, but feel like I can't delete it. Honestly, I kinda miss Earlier Twitter when it was just people who were announcing that they were about to eat a sandwich.

    It helps me check the pulse of the tech industry. I like the pieces of Weird Twitter that occasionally surface. It's a useful place to announce things to people I know professionally.

    I also think that broad swaths of it are overly negative. It's basically the ultimate form of "context collapse;" a broadcast mechanism where the people getting broadcasts can yell back. People used to yell at their TV and nobody would hear them. Twitter allows people to turn into influential TV yellers with big followings that also yell.

    I also find entrepreneur Twitter to be pretty obtuse. It's half "fortune cookie"-style platitudes, half stuff that'd be easier to read and harder to share as a blog post.

  5. 3

    Recently joined the shallowness of Twitter after going through Daniel Vassalo's course.
    I'm quite surprised to see very good, quality content there! I didn't know the No code community was so vibrant on Twitter.

    And I've recently realized that building a network and relationship with like-minded people can be highly beneficial.

    I'll probably have to make a few compromises and be shallow from time to time, but I don't regret yet joining the Twitter crowd at all.

    1. 3

      I am curious, how do you find like-minded people on Twitter? I am trying to start talking to people on Twitter. Not to build a follower count but more as a support structure and a way to bounce ideas off people.

      But I have found searching on Twitter leads me to people who have 1000s or 10s of thousands of followers, and they do not interact.

      So I am just curious to see if I am doing something wrong. How do you find people in the no-code community? Do you talk to them, or is it more of a way to keep up to date on the latest in the no-code world?

      1. 2

        Honestly, I followed a few "famous" No code makers, then checked who they were retweeting (mainly other no-code developers), and then the twitter recommendation algorithm recommended me some too.

        I also followed everyone from an article that went with a title like "The 100 no code developers to follow", and they were honestly people sharing content I was looking for.

        I only exchanged through DMs with a few of them, mainly commenting on a more personal level about one of their recent tweets.

        Some never responded. Some happily did. Some directly sent me a DM following one of my tweets too.

        Still early days, it's been only 15 days that I joined Twitter.

        1. 2

          Interesting, that mirrors my own journey. I am also trying to get active on Twitter.

          Twitter is great as a news source. Follow the major players in the market and you get a very good sense of what is new and upcoming.

          Building a network from 0 is painful, so just trying to get a sense of what is working for others.

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            Exactly my thoughts and observations so far.

            Let's follow each other! :)

            -> @ViceCaz

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              Done, see you on Twitter.

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        You're doing things right. I login just to reply and am curious if you are down to bounce ideas and give each other support :)

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          I am always open to making new friends. Followed you on Twitter.

  6. 3

    I am liking it more the more I use it honestly. I love seeing what other people are sharing, or seeing articles I wouldn't usually come across. Plus have had a couple of useful 'meets' come out of there recently.

    1. 1

      Awesome, glad to hear!

  7. 3

    I don't tweet much, but after taking a lot of time to refine my follow list, I now get a lot out of Twitter. I mute keywords related to politics and culture wars and I mostly only follow folks who tweet about tech, #indiehacking, #buildinpublic, and sports. It's so nice to reduce the negativity.

  8. 2

    I can't stand Twitter most of the time, but every once in a while I find a really great person to follow that provides a ton of value and I wouldn't know how to find them otherwise so I continue to use it every few days.

  9. 2

    I personally enjoy using Twitter a lot.
    As an introvert, it's a perfect place for me to meet and follow new interesting people.

    I like sharing thoughts, ideas, interesting articles I stumble upon, but of course also the things that I'm working on.

    So far, I've managed to avoid the negativity and the trolls, but probably only because I have a tiny following ;-)

  10. 2

    Glad I'm not the only one. Has been a week since I got off Twitter for the exact same reason. It was effing up my mental health too much.

  11. 2

    I don't like twitter much. I've always been of the mindset that I have nothing that interesting or unique to say. I know that's not always the case, but my general assumption has always been if I know it, so does everyone else.

    I don't think highly enough of my own opinions that I think everything needs to be shared the moment the thought crosses my mind. And that is what twitter feels like it needs to be useful for a person.

    1. 1

      Can emphasise, I'm introverted as well and don't like to share many "unfinished" thoughts. Still, I don't feel like that makes Twitter useless. You can still share what you want and connect with people, even if it's against the "algorithm" and won't lead to the extreme growth people brag about.

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        I suppose my mental model of twitter is that it's used for growth and community building, and if I'm not active enough to achieve that growth or community building, there's no real reason for me to make the effort to be on there. I'd rather post here, or on reddit.

  12. 2

    I don't like Twitter, but I get some value out of it. I use it to be up to date on what other creators are up to.
    But for engagement and actually giving and getting value, I prefer Reddit (various programming, startup, finance, technology communities) and IndieHackers, of course.

  13. 2

    I don't particularly like it, though it has brought me good things in life. It feels like a bit of a necessary evil for promoting my projects.

    1. 1

      Are there social networks you like more?

  14. 2

    I like it general, but 8/10 of people tweet the generic stuff like "friends > followers" every day, and I hate that

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      Which of the 2/10 tweets do you like? Just curious...

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        real build in public tweets that outline what others have done to scale their SaaS in detail

  15. 2

    Haven't used it for "building in public" purposes, but been an active user for years. It's there to be used for whatever you want to use it for. Found some of the smartest people I can think of there, and I learned a ton from them.

  16. 2

    Yes, I like Twitter aside from a few features (e.g. threads have terrible usability). I fine-tuned the list of people I follow to exclude those who obsess on follower count, are excessively promotional or toxic, and so on.

  17. 2

    Twitter is great because you can share cool stuff, and you dont need to present it in some complex way like you would on Instagram. If you have Programming Twitter and you build something cool, you just screencast it, write a few words and tweet it. Thats great, especially for developers which usually don't like this "useless" stuff.

  18. 2

    I think Twitter serves a different purpose than HN and IH. With Twitter there is a lot of marketing value. It's sort of like a newsletter where you can nurture people into buying. In Money and Indie Hacking twitters, there are so many Twitter accounts where they do provide some value but only so they increase their follower count to increase their sales.

    Then there are other parts of Twitter where that totally doesn't happen. Hockey twitter, comedy Twitter, etc where it's just people posting things interesting to that niche. I like that part of twitter.

    1. 1

      Yeah I felt similarly. I like the idea of following people who aren't selling anything.

  19. 2

    I go through phases of enjoying Twitter and losing interest. I've found a few cool opportunities because of Twitter and still find enough good content (new tech, tutorials, interesting ideas, etc.) that I still skim it daily.

    I think your experience will vary greatly based on who you follow and engage with.

    1. 1

      Interesting, you use Twitter mainly as a source of ideas? Why do you loose interest after a while?

      1. 2

        Yeah, mostly to find out about new ideas in tech and entrepreneurship. I think part of loosing interest is getting sick of being on my phone too much or feeling distracted. Another aspect is when the trends on Twitter are very negative or draining to follow

  20. 1

    I hated it but with some changes, I have started liking it. Might be this is helpful to you also.

    1. I removed clutter from my feed. Unfollowed celebrities, gossip folks, politicians, etc
    2. Started following only PM(Product Management) folks and people who post relevant content for me.

    Twitter started doing its magic and started showing more relevant content and people to follow.

    Now life is good.

  21. 1

    Depends on who you follow. For our Twitter (@sparrowtheapp) we only follow entrepreneurs with solid reputation who give actionable advice. Keeps us on our toes + they don't usually spam with bs tweets, which is sadly very common.

  22. 1

    Yes, I like Twitter. I mainly use it to share upcoming news about my startup (because I'm launching my startup soon) and info about the startup world (SaaS Products I like, interesting news, etc.)

  23. 1

    In my experience Twitter is almost worthless in my industry/niche. Facebook and Instagram rule the roost for brand building and fan/user communication.

  24. 1

    was a long time user, but its mainly devolved into me using it as a support channel for some companies.

  25. 1

    The only thing I dislike about Twitter is that it's limited to <200 chars. Which is not fun, I think it would be way better if the tweets would be longer so some deeper conversations could happen.

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