Read on Twitter
Twitter as a Coffee Shop of Friendly Nerds
I've been following @visakanv for some time and recently saw his video on how he uses Twitter.
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I split up the key points into two parts.
I've been following @visakanv for some time and recently saw his video on how he uses Twitter.
1/45I split up the key points into two parts.
PART 1: Background A lot of people tend to find twitter as a frustrating dumpster fire, but Visa thinks otherwise.
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Visa starts by talking about libraries and the way he describes them reminds me of freely available thought repositories.
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Libraries have a vibe of intellectual stimulation and every book is an "act of optimism," even the cynical ones.
Why?
The very fact that someone thought those ideas were worth sharing with other people.
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Why?
The very fact that someone thought those ideas were worth sharing with other people.
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Libraries are lighthouses of human consciousness. You can find new ideas and resonate with them.
We can leave the darkness of loneliness to become connected with others. This mindset shift towards collaboration has helped Visa engage with Twitter.
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We can leave the darkness of loneliness to become connected with others. This mindset shift towards collaboration has helped Visa engage with Twitter.
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The internet is the human library. To be a writer, you can publish anything and talk to anyone...for free.
You can reach anyone in the world with a Twitter account by simply @ them.
If you know the handle, you're golden.
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You can reach anyone in the world with a Twitter account by simply @ them.
If you know the handle, you're golden.
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Visa started using Twitter a lot less sporadically after finding friends here and working at a start up that allowed him to talk to strangers online worldwide. Twitter became normal.
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With thousands of followers, Visa has friends from major cities all over the world and can get replies to almost anything at any time of the day.
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A tweet is an invitation for engagement. There's no imposing on your friends by texting them and obligating them to respond. I would put it as a sort of "open access communication"
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A tweet is an invitation for engagement. There's no imposing on your friends by texting them and obligating them to respond. I would put it as a sort of "open access communication"
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Twitter isn't entirely benevolent. There's a lot of abuse that may occur on the platform.
Twitter is a tool. Much like a hammer can be used as a weapon, so too can Twitter.
However, you can actively take steps to get the most benefit from it, like Visa has.
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Twitter is a tool. Much like a hammer can be used as a weapon, so too can Twitter.
However, you can actively take steps to get the most benefit from it, like Visa has.
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PART TWO: Strategy Find Your People/Tribe
Whatever it is you care about, there's other people in the world who also care bout it.
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Even if only 0.1% of the world population cares about your thing... that's millions of people.
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If some subset of those millions have a public Twitter account you can add them, talk to them, and become friends.
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How do you find your people?
- Define who your people are
- Define your niche.
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- Define who your people are
- Define your niche.
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Use alt accounts to experiment.
It's freeing. You can connect with people this way just through being yourself. There's no pressure. You can make friends out of strangers.
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It's freeing. You can connect with people this way just through being yourself. There's no pressure. You can make friends out of strangers.
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How do you get in on the engagement game?
Well, find your "crossroads"; two separate interests you have that could intersect.
Your interests could be:
- motorcycles and pizza
- yoga and archaeology
- neuroscience and humanities
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Well, find your "crossroads"; two separate interests you have that could intersect.
Your interests could be:
- motorcycles and pizza
- yoga and archaeology
- neuroscience and humanities
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Now you have a reason to seek people interested in either of those things. Those people will be curious to know about the similarities and differences between your separate interests
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So:
- Search Twitter to find people talking about either interest
- Follow them or reply to their tweets
- If they like your replies you can build something together from there
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- Search Twitter to find people talking about either interest
- Follow them or reply to their tweets
- If they like your replies you can build something together from there
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Who to Follow?
- Avoid parasocial relationships
- Under 2,000 followers
Find people who are likely to reply.
If you follow famous people or corporate accounts, you aren't going to be seen or replied to. That's a wasteful experience. Like "what am I doing?"
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- Avoid parasocial relationships
- Under 2,000 followers
Find people who are likely to reply.
If you follow famous people or corporate accounts, you aren't going to be seen or replied to. That's a wasteful experience. Like "what am I doing?"
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When you have thousands of followers it's harder to reply to every single reply but you can use lists to engage with friends.
Visa mentions having twitter lists of friends you could engage with.
"If you play nice, they'll play nice back."
21/45 https://twitter.com/eashankotha/status/1280917061808553985
Visa mentions having twitter lists of friends you could engage with.
"If you play nice, they'll play nice back."
21/45 https://twitter.com/eashankotha/status/1280917061808553985
Generally, the loudest people are often the most disagreeable.
The ones who go like "Ah, you said X but what about Y?" people.
They do play an important role in the platform but it's hard to make friends when you're uncharitably disagreeable with people don't even know.
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The ones who go like "Ah, you said X but what about Y?" people.
They do play an important role in the platform but it's hard to make friends when you're uncharitably disagreeable with people don't even know.
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People are so used to being defensive and being disagreeable.
You can change that.
The hack/trick is to be a supportive, nourishing presence.
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You can change that.
The hack/trick is to be a supportive, nourishing presence.
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It's like improv, a rule of thumb is to say "yes, and..." to keep things going.
Leverage that for Twitter, affirm what the other person is saying, even if you're disagreeing.
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Leverage that for Twitter, affirm what the other person is saying, even if you're disagreeing.
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It's good to find something you can agree with them on so you're not seen as just going after them for the heck of it. Rather, you're trying to play with ideas in a beneficial way.
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It's easier to criticize than to praise.
It's so frequent on here that its value has depreciated.
Support and encouragement is the rare value you can add to this platform.
This is not to say you should be dishonest and praise blindly and insincerely.
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It's so frequent on here that its value has depreciated.
Support and encouragement is the rare value you can add to this platform.
This is not to say you should be dishonest and praise blindly and insincerely.
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- Figure out what topics you care about
- Make it clear in your bio so people know
This way, when people scroll your feed they'll find tweets they would like to interact with.
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- Make it clear in your bio so people know
This way, when people scroll your feed they'll find tweets they would like to interact with.
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You can encourage convos, state that your DMs are open.
Give people permission to talk to you because if they can, they will.
It's fun to give people something they can ask you more about. That can start conversations so if you have a way of doing that, go for it!
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Give people permission to talk to you because if they can, they will.
It's fun to give people something they can ask you more about. That can start conversations so if you have a way of doing that, go for it!
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Good Reply Game- Don't be a reply pest. Don't be a "reply guy"
You don't want to reply to someone's *every* tweet unless you're super close friends and y'all have that rapport.
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If you're trying to get on someone's radar and perhaps become friends but they don't know you, just reply sporadically. Like, every other day or one in every five tweets etc etc.
(Note: Don't take the every five tweets thing literally lol)
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(Note: Don't take the every five tweets thing literally lol)
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It's annoying to get spammed with replies on everything so you don't want to come on too strong even though you could technically reply to anything.
¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
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¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
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An interesting thing happens when you have people in your sphere.
These are people who didn't really tweet much before but now, are connecting with each other and making new friends.
A growing, wholesome vibe.
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These are people who didn't really tweet much before but now, are connecting with each other and making new friends.
A growing, wholesome vibe.
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The goal is to be able to go anywhere in the world and be received warmly by people you care about and vice versa.
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It's possible to make this space a good place for you.
You can find a great community here.
Some of you reading this already have found some you love.
If you want to hit Visa or me up, we’re more than happy to talk.
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You can find a great community here.
Some of you reading this already have found some you love.
If you want to hit Visa or me up, we’re more than happy to talk.
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Visa sees this as making the world a better place from the level of individuals being genial to each other and supporting.
You don't need to comment on every bit of current affairs.
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You don't need to comment on every bit of current affairs.
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Some more bits before wrapping up:
Twitter isn't great for discussing politics.
Not really unless you know what you're doing.
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Twitter isn't great for discussing politics.
Not really unless you know what you're doing.
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On Twitter you can nerd out about anything you please.
Video games, a TV show you saw, something you made, anything.
Some people feel they need permission to do this.
Take this tweet as your permission slip. You have support.
Tweet at us. We got you
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Video games, a TV show you saw, something you made, anything.
Some people feel they need permission to do this.
Take this tweet as your permission slip. You have support.
Tweet at us. We got you
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Margaret Mead has a quote that goes
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has"
A loose network of us all interacting with each other and being friends make us more interdependent.
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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has"
A loose network of us all interacting with each other and being friends make us more interdependent.
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We become more interdependent and we care more for each other.
If you have friends across the world in like in the U.S, Germany, Nigeria, India, China, wherever, you feel more involved to know what's going on in those parts of the world because you have friends there.
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If you have friends across the world in like in the U.S, Germany, Nigeria, India, China, wherever, you feel more involved to know what's going on in those parts of the world because you have friends there.
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You're more in tune with the world but that may also be a bit more anxious about some things but in general, being connected is superior to being lonely and isolated.
This is an era where we are more connected to each other than ever before. We can use that for good.
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This is an era where we are more connected to each other than ever before. We can use that for good.
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Digital apps won't solve people problems. People solve people problems. Let's work on finding each other and building relationships.
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Once again, tweet at me if you want to start a convo. My DMs are open. :)
43/45 https://twitter.com/eashankotha/status/1261445097264046081
43/45 https://twitter.com/eashankotha/status/1261445097264046081
If you’re interested in any of the below I’d love to hear from you
- Healthcare (literally anything I could go on)
Neuro-related is >>
- Art (for the aesthetics + what our brains do when we see art)
- Tech (like AI and programmin’ stuff, digital brains too)
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- Healthcare (literally anything I could go on)
Neuro-related is >>
- Art (for the aesthetics + what our brains do when we see art)
- Tech (like AI and programmin’ stuff, digital brains too)
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-Writing (explaining healthcare to many people in an effective manner is something I think is valuable)
- Design (with good visual design, we shortcut message transmission time - our brains are cool like that)
- Films (I love so many films, many languages too)
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- Design (with good visual design, we shortcut message transmission time - our brains are cool like that)
- Films (I love so many films, many languages too)
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Addendum:
The video that inspired this thread. :)
The video that inspired this thread. :)
