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34 Comments

Why is everyone hyping twitter here?

I probably should already know the answer to this but I have seen a lot of people on here raving about twitter and twitter stats.
A lot of people on here have also shared how twitter gained them x amount of subscribers to their email newsletter etc.
I have a couple of questions regarding this:

  • Why twitter specifically and not some other social media like Instagram or Facebook?
  • How often do you post on there?
  • When you post, what do you post? (I have always been stuck when it comes to twitter because I have no idea what I should be posting there really)

If I get some good answers to this I will probably try to jump on twitter as well but just wondering how twitter out of all the social media to choose from is the one that all indie hackers seem to love

  1. 11

    Twitter is one amazing place where everybody can interact with each other. Poor with the rich, beginners with experts, etc.

    Where Facebook and Instagram are more oriented around your personal life, is twitter more focused on your interests.

    1. 4

      "where everybody can interact with each other"

      Until you say something they don't like and you get banned :)

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        If that happens you're in the wrong group. Twitter has 330 million users and if you have above 1,000 followers you're in the top 2%. I'm not advocating finding an echo chamber here

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          I'm in the free speech group ;)

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            So the right one :).

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            This comment was deleted 7 months ago.

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        This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

    2. 1

      Makes sense. What are your thoughts on websites like Linkedin? Would that branch too far into the professional space and take the regular casual talking a bit out of it compared to twitter.

      1. 1

        I feel that Linkedin is more about self-promotion and a place where recruiters can annoy you with non-related job offers. But that's my personal experience.

        In all fairness I also use Linkedin to promote my own Saas. But that's more to let business relations know what I'm working on.

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          Yes that is my experience of LinkedIn also. But at the same time because it is such monotonous flow of self-promotion it maybe a good avenue for content if you are clever about it and separate yourself from the default self-promotional content.

  2. 5

    Twitter is wild. Wild - as in, there's a lot of traffic if you produce things people like.

    I have a following of just over 3500 people. Not incredible, but not too bad. I published a blog post (very casual, on my personal blog), and just pasted a link into Twitter (no text, just the blog). It got over 1500 clicks within the day.

    That might not seem like a lot, but considering that 1500 clicks using FB ads would have cost me at least $750, it's a bargain.

    The Tweet itself got over 23,000 impressions with no additional effort on my part. Just likes and retweets.

    I've never seen anything like that out of FB or IG. They actively restrict posts that leave the platform. They want all content to be organic to the platform.

    If you spam links and hashtags, Twitter will limit your reach. But if you're reasonable and helpful, it's hard to find a better place to get traffic to the thing you're doing (sans SEO).

    It's also better for individuals than businesses. Self promotion goes over pretty well, while brands are mostly ignored.

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      $750 for 1500 clicks on FB ads? That's a bit steep no? How broad of targeting are you doing? Really curious about this.

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        That’s a pretty average cold USA click without retargeting.

  3. 4

    Facebook is the most "closed" network IMO.

    Twitter has low friction to new interactions

    LinkedIn more friction than Twitter but more open than Facebook

    Instagram feed and limit to content types

  4. 3

    Not sure about others, but to me(and for https://responsively.app) Twitter a nothing less than a boon.

    • Twitter has lots of software developers. And Responsively App being a dev-tool, it is easy to reach out to more of the target audience of the product. And people are willing to spread the word about it on Twitter once they like it.
    • We try to post 3-4 tweets a week.
    • Mostly updates about the App, the contributors' community, and quick tips that can help the users to use it better.

    You should definitely give it a try!

  5. 2

    First of all, I'm a founder of a Twitter growth tool and also author of a Twitter growth hacking blog, so keep that context in mind (read: I might be biased).

    Twitter is HUGE for networking.

    (You even have specialized paid tools like mine to help you grow on Twitter, and people are paying for it to grow their audiences rapidly on Twitter and monetizing that audience like champs. That's how important Twitter is.)

    So what's the big deal about Twitter?

    THE COMMUNITY.

    The community is like no other on the internet. Facebook works to keep in touch with your family and friends (Facebook Groups try to mimic Twitter, but they don't even come close).

    Instagram works if your audience are mostly consumers, but since most indie hackers create SaaS apps targeting small businesses and beyond, it naturally wouldn't be a popular choice.

    Twitter? Twitter is driven by IDEAS. It's a marketplace of ideas. And if you can locate your niche within Twitter, and build an audience by becoming a respectable (micro-)influencer in that niche, you don't have to sell AT ALL. The sale will find its way to you. Not only that, your followers will promote your product for free on your behalf and gush endlessly over you as a person once you've won their trust.

    In short, build a tribe on Twitter, and I guarantee it'll be your main source of traffic and sales.

    It's really hard to put in words the value of Twitter to a nascent business... But think of Twitter as a giant mega-funnel that sucks in leads and turns them into customers. And all you have to do is tweet engaging content and engage with others within your niche and tribe. People will check out your profile and your offers if you're interesting -- very little active "selling" is needed.

    If you're interested, I have some "state-of-the-art" Twitter growth hacking resources here you might want to check out:

    If you want to chat further, drop me a line at [email protected], I'd be happy to tell you more!

    1. 2

      Hey dude this is a great comment and your blog has great content. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

  6. 2

    There are many ways of using Twitter. Most of the people use it as a way of consuming content and as such they have very little reach and interactions. That’s a fair use, but don’t expect to get much visibility.

    To get the most out of Twitter you should try to build an audience. I followed Daniel Vassallo’s course ( https://gumroad.com/a/184251507/PBkrO) and he has a few interesting ideas. The main takeaway I got are:

    • you should have credibility on the topics you are talking about. Describing your journey and giving a behind the scenes look are good ways to do so
    • you should interact. Replying to other people tweet, if the reply adds value it’s a good way to build up an audience. People will see your tweets and they will start following you

    If you’re building something being open, learning in public and sharing as much as you can about what works and doesn’t work for your are a great way to build your personal audience. Once you have an audience it will work for you by amplifying your tweets.

    There are a lot of opportunities on Twitter but as always it takes work and good content to be able to exploit them.

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      Hmm, I'll give Twitter a shot. Been on there a couple of times but never got into any discussions, most likely because I was only following political people just for the memes. Will try to jump on there and start following business orientated people to see what happens.

  7. 2

    For me twitter is a way to connect with amazing folks, people 5 years ahead of me.

    It is valuable even if you only have 20 followers.

    Follow people you like and if you have questions ask them either as a comment or dm, you will be surprised who actually reply.

    Also growing a twitter account isn't for everyone it requires a unique skillset.

  8. 1

    I read somewhere, "Facebook is for who you are, and Twitter is for who you can be"

  9. 1

    "Why twitter specifically and not some other social media like Instagram or Facebook?"

    For my niche (SEO/Rich Snippets), Facebook groups were useless, you find some groups with 130k members, yet 99.99% of them are kids who want to be cheated by the group admin (to buy SEO courses). Whereas on Twitter you can find some people who are experts in the field and provide real value.

  10. 1

    I learn a ton of stuff on twitter - about products, people, what people are working on and what products people are using and recommending. I get to choose my sources. This info in itself is valuable to me. If you have a lot of followers then it works as a distribution channel also I'm sure, but I may never get there, and that is fine - there are other avenues for distribution. The benefits I listed in the beginning is where I see value.

  11. 1

    I've been using Twitter more recently, and it's interesting.

    I just use it as a platform to connect with people who share interests, share my thoughts and follow trends. It doesn't have to always be business-related.

  12. 1

    I don't have a big following (only 260 people) and I'm quite pessimistic about social networks in general.

    But lately, Twitter has opened up doors into interesting opportunities and people. I managed to get some freelance projects, meet people that do business in a similar space and managed to have 1-on1 with some amazing engineers who's work I've been following for a while (but never had an opportunity to talk before).

    I'm so impressed, that I'll be investing more time into putting out better content on twitter myself.

    Never have I had any similar benefits from any other social platform to be frank.

  13. 1

    Hey Oskar! I have been inactive on social media for nearly 10 years. I didn't need to be because I was building brick and mortar businesses. In the physical world, word of mouth is more important than social media (though I did do project-specific social media accounts which boosted revenue).

    Now, using the capital and experience I gained, I set myself a new challenge. I want to build a digital tech holding that will create and buy profitable, best-in-class digital products. I have decided to do 180 degrees and build a fully remote team, and organization.

    What I have discovered is that Twitter is a super tool to achieve. The reason being:

    1. You can build your audience. If you have quality followership, Twitter becomes like a distribution channel for your product, ideas, and everything.
    2. You can observe how others do it. You can learn great insights.
    3. You can find employees, investors, and co-founders.

    Hence, I decided to go big on Twitter.

    I see Insta as the space for influencers, talkers, Twitter is the space for game-changers.

  14. 1

    They say you are the people you surround yourself with. In the absence of IRL cohorts that could lift you up, particularly in this trying pandemic times, Twitter is the next best thing. Just make sure they are not driven by ideology, but just genuine desire to improve themselves and others.

  15. 1

    My users are devs and there is a huge dev community on Twitter. Just did $10k in sales over the weekend purely though Twitter. No way I could do that on FB or any other network.

  16. 1

    I've used Twitter for a bunch of reasons in the last 10+ years I have been on there. It's great to build relationships with journalists, which helps give you press when you need it.

    I even got a retweet from Trump for one of my products about 5 years ago, but I try to not to mention that anymore, haha.

  17. 1

    What other people are saying about Twitter being open for anyone to connect regardless of background is a big factor.

    The mechanics of how Twitter works also makes it ripe for opportunity of getting massive exposure. The way that likes and retweets and broadcast to followers of other accounts makes it very easy for your content to make it in front of the eyes of people you haven't yet connected with. If you can figure out how to post the right content, you can much more efficiently reach a lot of people than on any other platform.

    Although, like any established social media place, the users know when you're just trying to push a product. They can spot the difference between being genuine or fake in a heartbeat. So you have to go in with the right intentions.

  18. 1

    in my opinion, theres no twitter hype....its just people sharing data

  19. 1

    Facebook is totally geared towards paying for people to see your posts - effectively it's paid advertising and in that respect, unless it's on a huge scale, it's less effective than say Google Ads.

    On Twitter you can market your product for free and build an audience for free.

  20. 1
    1. Twitter has a lot of likeminded people on it - making it not only interesting to participate in, but valuable too.
    2. Usually daily.
    3. I post whatever's on my mind for the most part, share what I find value in.

    It's a flexible platform in that you can use it to hang out, promote, test ideas etc.

  21. 1

    From a marketing perspective it’s the only social left with great organic reach, i.e., you don’t have to pay for ads.

  22. 1

    If you want to interact with people that won't explode your timeline because of a mild difference in opinion then LinkedIn is the way to go. For engagement, interest and interaction then stick with LinkedIn. Twitter is full of bots, people with very little to no critical thinking, and mostly are volatile explosives to go off. It's an open platform to scream and basically fight against anyone that thinks otherwise.

  23. 1

    Try it for yourself. Not as a tool to intake and broadcast information. But as a hangout place. The connections you can make with Twitter is amazing. The accessibility is far more than any other platform really.

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    This comment was deleted 4 months ago.

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    This comment was deleted 4 years ago.

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