I see that you have recently joined Twitter. No? Perhaps you have finally decided to stop only reading and retweeting tweets to actively post some exciting ideas. That’s fantastic. That said, you are more than welcome to read ahead even if you have been a part of the platform for some time.
I am here to share some ideas with you so that you can expand upon them as you navigate through this new experience. This is not a 0 to 100-follower guide or a growth-hacking post. While I do talk about follower growth, the post is more in line with improving your Twitter experience. Allow me to prompt engineer you.
Before we start, I have a question for you.
Why have you joined Twitter? What brings you here?
I had joined Twitter for the following reasons
Learn more about my niche, people, gain networking opportunities
Serendipity / to increase my luck by increasing visibility.
Find “tribes” to discuss my ideas
To sharpen my writing & thinking skills
As I navigated through the vast realms of Twitter, I found that my reasons to use Twitter expanded. While my earlier intent is still there, the following got added implicitly xD
Entertainment
Shitposting (oversimplifying: sort of memes but text version)
Talking to new people, having fun, and exposing myself to varying perspectives. My DMs vary from age 16 to 60. I came across a diverse range of individuals, who shared with me their stories and insights, and among them, I came across some amazing friend cum lowkey mentors.
So I ask you to write down your intent or any goals for using this platform. Twitter helps to discover your tastes and interests to some extent, so you may discover more reasons and goals as your Twitter journey unfolds (as with any adventure). As of 2023, I am mostly swinging between shitposting and thoughtful posting depending on my mood and the time I have. Here is an interesting read on why I tweet by Manas Saloi for your reference. (His blog is nice)
[OPTIONAL] Useful concepts for navigating the internet in general
Nice to know about mimesis (we tend to copy others), so think for yourself.
I want you to watch this video on critical thinking. Critical thinking is essential for a good twitter experience, rather it’s important to navigate whole of the internet.
New poster?
I predict you have decided to start posting. Go ahead! I am pretty sure you will quickly realize that you need some followers who read your tweets. You are in good luck because I am going to talk about how to gain “good” followers throughout the rest of this blog.
Don't be like: yo Mister White. I don't need followers. I am just gonna post stuff here.
Nope. You need at least some folks who resonate with you, who can offer different viewpoints and possibly point out your mistakes or RT them (lol) if they find it good.
The initial few months are going to be a grind unless you already have some friends who use Twitter. So here’s a straightforward piece of advice: inform your friends that you have joined the platform. Some might follow you back. (My college friends did, very generous of them to tolerate my early-on tweets)
Writing tweets
Update 14/3/2023: I am adding this small section inspired by another post I came across today.
If you are not sure what to tweet about, you can start with the following
thoughts on a topic you’re currently interested in
talk about things that you like
a recent realization or a reflection you’ve had recently
thoughts on a blog post or book that you read recently
a joke
document your life, absurd moments
a story or memory from your life
a goal that you have
Initially, you may feel like you are tweeting into the void but try to tweet frequently on whatever topics you are interested in and find your style. An added benefit of a corpus of tweets is you may use these later to quote tweet or reply. You never know which tweet may be beneficial in the future. You can search to know about your insights on that topic in the past. It’s so cool.
Who not to follow initially and how many to follow?
Avoid celebs
Firstly, avoid following celebs except for the ones you stan. Okay?
Avoid Twitter algorithm follow recos (it’s shitty)
Avoid following based on Twitter’s recommendations. It tends to suggest people who have a high number of followers, whose tweets you have liked/replied to. (It’s shitty). Those folks won't notice you.
Define a threshold for quality control
Define a threshold. It promotes quality control of the timeline. I suggest 256-512.
If you want high signal-to-noise ratio, follow fewer people. Max 100-150 people in your areas of interest. These may include people of your areas of interest, niche, people whose takes you like, etc., and people you followed back based on interaction. Absolutely prioritize the vibe over anything.
An easy observation is more the followers of a person, the lesser chance for an interaction (like, reply, RT). Exceptions are always there if you are a good reply guy or they are generous and you folks develop a friendship. Twitter is full of surprises if you stay long enough.
Sidenote: You can use lists for adding accounts for different topics.
I personally hover around 450 - 500 people. (getting a follow back from me is pretty hard, haha)
Another observation is when you follow 1000 or 2000s of people with a low follower count (Following: Follower ratio is important), I sense that you do not care a lot about your SNR. You are less likely to interact with me too because I will appear lesser in your timeline (the exception being you already interact with me). You can draw some more corollaries. Again if someone replies enough, they are most likely interested ~ vibe
Timeline curation, creative and analytical elimination
Optimise for what you want to see more of - @visakanv
When you join the platform (or if you are yet to follow people), I suggest follow aggressively based on your interests till you reach 75% of the threshold; Leave some space for mutuals/follow backs. This discovery process of finding your vibe is best performed by the creative brain and it works better when your analytical brain is inactive (yeah, I know this sounds hand-wavy but bear with me). This is similar to the advice “write first, edit later” Following aggressively is to write the draft first. Letting all the ideas uncover. Then deciding which ones click and discarding others during editing.
When you scroll and read tweets, you can unfollow non-mutuals based on whether you don’t like / despise their tweets. Mostly based on the vibes and connection → creative process
You can occasionally reflect on people you have followed and unfollow in bulk (those who do not interact, or those who you don’t feel any connection). → analytical process
I found the creative process spread over the long term to work more accurately. It helps to uncover what I like and don’t like.
Sidenote: When you are a low follower account, it's better to follow back. However, if you want to be selective, follow back folks who interact with you. (This works well when you grow a bit say >500 followers)
That’s like an SOP for cultivating taste. Try out as many possible genres till you find what resonates with you. Discard the ones that don’t resonate. Once you find your interests, it’s easy to expand from there.
Who to follow, like really.. Finding your tribe
Let's slowly build up from here.
Types of Twitter users based on time spent
- Lurkers (these people typically read stuff and take screenshots and gossip on direct messaging groups). They don't tweet much.
Occasional posters
Active people - post regularly, interact
Addicted (Not me) - are more active than active people
Celebs/Content Creators/Influencers - millions of followers, they rarely interact with you
The people you want to be friends with are the occasional posters, active and addicted category. Lurkers also work if they interact with you. Vibes/Interaction over anything else.
Types based on motivation
I can go into more nuances (btw, nuance is a word that you might encounter a lot) but will keep it simple.
Content Creator / Marketing motivation: They want to sell stuff by building distribution. Tweets are mostly for marketing and gain clout. They are here to build an audience and monetize. I am not passing a value judgment. It’s a valid reason.
Genuine tweeps / little Marketing motivation: They like engagement but they post, shitpost, and nerd post, talk, and interact. Here for fun/reading/talking/debating/ranting/venting
If you want to gain clout, your goal should obviously be to gain your following through whatever content strategy you have share resources, tips, materials, and anecdotes. Build projects in public. And you wanna grab the attention of these folks and collaborate with them, conduct spaces.
If you are not interested in clout and you are in for a network, entertainment, enjoyment, and discussing ideas, try to connect with authentic tweeps. Target individuals in specific niches and ecosystems, attend mixer events and make sure to share your handles extensively. This post is focused on being a genuine tweep.
The Credibility equation
Interest and vibes
Followed by (especially how many good mutuals of yours follow this person). It's visible below the bio.
Bio (discussed later)
Their takes
Fuck credibility, just follow that schizo anon if you like their tweets
Btw anon accounts have the most interesting tweets (once you discover your taste)
Finding your tribe
Part 1: Utilize the social graph
Twitter is for the people, by the people. Use the people as the recommendation algorithm.
See who your mutuals are interacting with. (Use Following timeline which is chronological in nature). See their replies, likes, comments section, and who they are following (a little bit grindy).
Let’s say you want to find more people on artist twitter. Ask your mutuals or tweet to ask about art people. Then follow from these 2-3 art people and explore who replies to them. Say you want to join a city’s twitter, and follow someone who seems to be at the center of that city.
Finding your tribe
Part 2: "good mutuals/followers" aka friends
You want some people to interact and share your ideas. Best case outcome is a conversion from interactions to DM. DM to WhatsApp. Finally, real-life although I guess WhatsApp also counts xD.
Please read this thread by @ amuldotexe. He is a friend and mutual of mine. He’s based in Bangalore, India. I was influenced by his philosophy of networking, though I am not as rigorous as him. Despite his follower count, if you give him thoughtful replies, he will interact with you. Your aim should be to make similar friends. I recommend reading the thread.
Finding your tribe is the essence of the Twitter experience and it requires a decent amount of time and energy investment.
Letting your tribe find you
Part 3: The Engagement Equation
You want your tweets to get smashed on other people's faces. For that you need engagement. You can see the “Views” count or click on the view analytics button. Also, you have Twitter analytics on the platform which I recommend looking into occasionally, it should not get over your head haha)
I encourage you to experiment. Stuff that works for engagement.
shitposts (dating takes work really well although I don't personally tweet much in this genre for some reasons..)
participate in relevant spaces of friends or influential people (Thank you @satyadeeproat)
achievements and life updates. I feel somewhat uncomfortable here but it’s good to share your achievements/life updates.
genuine/valuable/interesting ideas
certain keywords/trends (don't spam, OKAY??)
Twitter algorithm
higher than your follower count friend/sugar daddy accounts/ influential accounts/
high credential accounts who validate you [Rich gets Richer Law]
If you are here to market, then go ahead with your content strategy. Document your journey, collaborate with people, share useful resources, and write some useful threads (not copypasta)
I have found that the combination of nerdposting + shitposting works well for me. I didn’t synthesize it. It comes naturally to me.
The label nerdpost means posting "deep" stuff, which is nuanced, potentially valuable, realizations, technical stuff. You get the riff.
Shitposting is pretty broad. Examples: something personal, natural. titbits from your day. funny takes. absurd takes and realizations, jokes. memes in form of text. It's pretty broad honestly. Satire. Takes on reality etc. Anon accounts have good shitposts.
Authentic and creative shitposting occurs most effortlessly when inspiration strikes.
Ok coming back to the blog, most people don't have the mental bandwidth to read complex takes, they are on the platform for entertainment and relaxation. This explains the effectiveness of easy takes. I tend to shitpost more naturally when I don’t have enough mental energy.
What you post determines who you attract
The nature of your tweets will decide the tribe you create
If you post shitposts, people who like shitposting will follow. Deep takes or tech content or say dating takes, people who are interested in those topics will follow. Tweet only for your college circle or tech circle and you will find your circle will be limited. You may decide to just post tweets for your niche. It’s totally upto you.
There are tradeoffs (which are everywhere). Say if you limit your tweeting to your college circle, outsiders won’t bother because they won’t understand your shared context and internal references.
The main idea here is "How much common context (e.g ideas, interests, taste, knowledge, technical expertise) do you share. The overlap decides who interacts with you. If you tweet deep technical stuff, then only people who minutely understand that will read (if the tweet reaches them). General relatable takes usually garner a lot of engagement. e.g dating takes are really popular.
Something to which a lot of people can relate is a candidate for high engagement. The caveat is you might have more engagement but not the desired mutuals (say folks who like to engage in discussion). When I get viral tweets, I gain more followers than usual, etc. but most of them do not interact with me.
Conversely, if you post stuff that takes effort to understand, people who like that stuff will get attracted but other people are ignored (and these folks often don't like funny takes xD) This is selective filtering. You can adjust your following based on what you post to a certain extent. Posting for nerds is a risky pursuit if you are interested in building distribution.
Bio
Your bio is a powerful prompt
When views/impressions are on rock and roll, people go to your bio. I recommend putting some of your credentials / required keywords in your bio to attract people/clout or people who are interested in that niche. clout = people who do not interact much
If you write “anime” in your bio or “shitpost”, people who like those topics and seem to stumble across your bio might follow back. However, if you want to “test your writing skills” or see “how sharp are my ideas”, you may keep your bio clear. (say to avoid getting followed by people who just care for the brand and not for your writing) e.g a mutual used to do this. Still, your credentials eventually spill over to your tweets.
Good reply game (go search “good reply game from:visakanv”)
I recommend a good reply game. If not that, atleast avoid being toxic.
There are a lot of genuine tweeps with <1K followers. Do not conflate a small follower count with quality or intelligence or status. There are a plethora of absolutely amazing people with low follower counts. You wanna make friends with them, whether they follow you back or not, that is not a major concern (although if they do, it's great lol, makes interaction smoother. Why? read my blog on validation
Practice a good reply game with them or whatever way you want to interact other than offensive trolling, abuse, and spreading toxicity
ask questions that make them feel good while answering lol. ok, no ask genuine questions, and don't spam.
find opportunities to slide into DM or just introduce and talk (very powerful)
Take above as prompts rather than prescription
You can practice the above points for people with whom you genuinely / naturally want to interact with. We want a good network, which feels not artificial, where there is a feeling of connection.
My riff to the idea of shitposting+nerdposting
Follow whatever posting pattern feels most natural to you. I am just presenting a nice strategy (which is somewhat natural for a lot of people)
To increase engagement: Do more shitposting. You want to share ideas and engagement is going decent: Do nerd posting. Also, interact whenever you feel you have something okayish to add but respect the time... Once you have 200-300 followers of the tribe, you may choose to nerd posts all the time. Totally depends on you.
Tips for smoother experience (Twitter etiquette)
Don’t take tweets so seriously, give benefit of doubt for offensive replies (people are often sleep deprived and in bad mood/suffering. hard to do I know)
Quote tweet not for dunking (especially non-mutuals) but to support or add
Good or genuine reply game. avoid toxicity/offensive remarks
Avoid talking about politics, gender, religion. Especially the latter two.
Stay away/be careful from outrage/toxic accounts
More pointers on making good mutuals
What I mention are prompts, realize the platform is random.
The kind of people you attract highly depends on how good you are with words, substance, randomness favoring you(luck),
influential accounts following you
Always filter your shitposts a bit to avoid turmoil (if you are not anon)
shitposting and interacting with all people (outside niche too) works well. IMO, this is the best way to gain like-minded people.
interact with people of the niche (fast follow-back)
Go to events/college and mention your handle
"You can be a reply guy to larger accounts, but it's usually a waste of time since they often don't respond. However, it's worthwhile to be a reply guy to those you genuinely enjoy and who are open to discussion. Look for people in the <5K follower category for the best chance at finding them.
Embrace slow growth. When you are a small account, you can tweet more unhinged stuff haha (if you are not an anon account) and interact with people easily. Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.
End.