Is growing on Twitter even worth it?

Don't use Twitter to broadcast and drive clicks, use it to build relationships and engage with interesting people. You'll make a lot of new friends and it might open up unexpected opportunities.

Yes but it depends on your growth strategy. That's really important. It shouldn't be a nice to have but an "absolutely necessary" to have for your strategy. Otherwise you won't be able to commit since it takes plenty of time.

My goal is to build a community of design-driven founders and I create content on Twitter and here in IndieHackers.com - Twitter is essential for me because that's where I meet new people, discuss with them and sometimes "convert" them to subscribers or customers of mine.

Twitter is a platform to build connections. I found two freelance clients there, met amazing people and I also learn a tone by following high-quality account.

The reasons I love Twitter so much are conversations, engagements and DMs. I haven't look at how many visits I get because that's not the point of using it. This is a by-product of spending time and creating value in the platform ;-)

Also I don't see Twitter just as a growth tool. I treat it as an amazing space/community that I can hang out to, learn, have fun and connect with new people. Hope this helps and feel free to ask me any question, happy to help!

P.S. Here is my twitter account twitter.com/jimzarkadas and my IH newsletter indiehackers.com/series/the-human-centered-maker

I thought just like you did, and then I saw @jimzarkadas having lots of success with it. Random people reaching out to him, wanting to work with him, referring him to people they know, etc. It can definitely work.

But as @andreboso said, it's not post and forget. It takes time to build relationships.

Twitter works when you write the niche with consistency.
I enjoy David Perell's Twitter course (paid version and a free version on YouTube) that emphasise the ways you could leverage Twitter for personal and business use.
I think it's very valuable because I DMs a lot of people I want to know/collaborate and it's such a high-return plus low-cost activity.
There is no short cut but you have to find what you enjoy while others think it's a work.

Twitter is not for driving click or traffic, nobody will be interested in your links if you are not engaging in the discussion. It is purely relationship based and how you engage in discussion and how you provide values. usually imho twitter is better for SaaS leads.

I believe it's a valuable platform. It's not about the followers or clicks or even the amount of money it generates.

In the end, like Andre and others, it's about the relationship. Many of the top indie hackers leverage the platform to work with exciting folks and network. I have around 800 followers, but I have connected with some great folks who have become friends over the years.

I have landed jobs and found freelancers from the platform. It does take time to grow, but I think almost everyone will look up a person on Twitter if they have a blog or post on forums like this.

I think Twitter is the right platform to get connected with people directly without any hassle, Personally, I got new connections. But when it comes to promotion, we have to plan different strategies to reach more people. Sometimes it will work out well and in some cases, it may not be.

we all start at zero. ... and so, it is worth it (if it makes sense for your project).

question: does your (future) community hang out on twitter a lot? if so, then, go for it.

I think there are a few nuances to what you are asking

For one, building an audience is not easy, and is also time consuming. You probably can't use it as an acquisition channel with only 28 followers, and you won't gain more followers by just being a shill. You've got to grow through the mostly organic act of writing good content

But also, that's most channels. SEO, email newsletters, etc... you get a following by making good content. Once you have a following, you can absolutely leverage that for customer acquisition.

Also, as you mention, Twitter can be frustrating because your followers don't see everything you post. In fact, maybe only a small percent will. In my opinion, that's why people need to leverage direct messages much more frequently.

Once you get to a reasonable size, I think using tools like hypefury or twitterdms.com to automate parts of your workflow can solidify twitter as a growth channel. Especially automating you DMs — if you find a natural way to ping new followers and let them know that they can pay for content or goods of yours, you'll see lift

Best of luck!!

Disclaimer, I'm biased because I love Twitter and I'm building a tool to help people convert followers into customers.

That being said, I think Twitter is the best platform for indie hackers and creators. A large Twitter account can reap thousands if not millions of dollars every year. But don't aim to be a large account. Aim for quality connections.

I've met so many amazing people there including new friends and even podcast partners. I would say you shouldn't approach it as a way to get views but instead find a way to truly help people and provide value. Try to create real connections. People can sense when someone wants to help.

When I was earnestly sharing my resources that I collected for years on tech, people responded and those tweets got thousands and thousands of likes.