Why Twitter Is Dope And How To Use It

I've met some of the smartest and most interesting people I know through twitter. I talk about why I invested time in it and what has worked for me.

Transcript

1. 1 How to use Twitter to make you smarter and find interesting people Why Twitter Is Dope
2. 2 2 Disclaimer Everything said here is *my* experience with Twitter, there are a lots of different communities and approaches to using it
3. 3 W H Y T W I T T E R I S D O P E Some personal facts
4. 4 I…uh…spend a lot of time on it WTF????
5. 5 So much so that I even have haters
6. 6 6 It’s become the primary way for me to filter news, papers, etc. I’m interested in
7. 7 7 I meet about 50%-60% of new people through Twitter I usually get coffee/meals/drinks with ~1 person per week via Twitter
8. 8 When someone asks you how you met someone and you say through Twitter
9. 9 W H Y T W I T T E R I S D O P E Why You Should Use Twitter
10. 10 It’s a new way to make friends + networks The Regular Way People Make Friends 1 Proximity 2 Discovering mutual interests (conversations) 3 Repeated interactions The Twitter Way To Make Friends 1 Proximity 2 Discovering mutual interests (conversations) 3 Repeated interactions
11. 11 Making friends is geography agnostic
12. 12 Making friends is geography agnostic
13. 13 Making friends is geography agnostic
14. 14 It’s also “status” agnostic – you have direct access to people and mentors you might be able to access normally lol
15. 15 It lets other people know what topics you’re interested in at a given time
16. 16 16 Twitter is the only social network where you don’t bring your existing friends/connections with you to start Because of that…
17. 17 17 Twitter gives priority to people’s ideas Facebook, Instagram, Snap, etc. gives priority to people’s personal life updates
18. 18 W H Y T W I T T E R I S D O P E Dos and Don’ts
19. 19 19 DO: Get into other people’s conversations and reply with your opinions + thoughts (THIS IS PRIORITY #1)
20. 20 How it looks when you’re tweeting to your followers at the beginning
21. 21 Other people will start seeing what you write when you reply, you don’t need lots of followers
22. 22 22 DO: Use lists to toggle between different topics
23. 23 Build lists to toggle between topics of your choice or subscribe to other people’s lists
24. 24 24 DO: Unfollow people if they aren’t tweeting about stuff you like
25. 25 The unfollow button is your best friend
26. 26 Don’t just keep stacking followers, prune as your interests change
27. 27 27 Twitter is one of the only places where it’s totally normal to remove a connection - which is why your feed stays relevant How often do you remove friends from FB even if you’re not friends with them anymore?
28. 28 28 DO: Follow the people your favorite accounts follow
29. 29 Most underrated area is the “followers you know” area If it has a lot of people you like, it’s a good sign
30. 30 When you find a person you like, see who they follow Click here to see who they follow
31. 31 31 DO: Follow people who prioritize engaging with their followers
32. 32 Click on “tweets & replies”. Good rule of thumb is at least 2:1 tweets to replies in the last 10 tweets (ballpark). More is better!
33. 33 33 DON’T: Auto-tweet links
34. 34 If it’s all buff.ly, bit.ly, etc. links avoid! Auto-tweeting links is akin to spam and signals you don’t want to converse
35. 35 35 The best part of the platform is the conversations, find people who take part in that
36. 36 36 DON’T: Use hashtags
37. 37 It just screams “I’m here to market stuff and get as many eyeballs as possible”
38. 38 38 DON’T: Follow non-people (brands, publications, firms, etc.)
39. 39 You probably don’t care about ALL of these articles + they aren’t engaging accounts
40. 40 The people you follow will be your filter. Interesting stuff will end up in your feed + have commentary from them too.
41. 41 41 DO: Follow people with less followers They aren’t full of themselves + they’re more opinionated, engaging, and down to hang
42. 42 42 DO: Reach out to people via DM
43. 43 It can be the start of a beautiful friendship + people are more down to meet than you think This is a steakhouse
44. 44 44 DON’T: Try to get retweets for the sake of engagement
45. 45 C’mon… You lose respect instantly doing this, esp from people you might want to meet
46. 46 46 Golden rule: Quality of followers > Quantity of followers
47. 47 47 DON’T: Participate in “outrage” twitter or get dragged in a twitter fight
48. 48 People participating in rage twitter are not aiming to learn or change their views, it’s not worth your time
49. 49 Just ignore trolls or people trying to bait you into an argument ???????
50. 50 50 DON’T: Feel the need to jump into whatever the current hot topic of discussion is You don’t HAVE to have a take
51. 51 51 DO: Use mute words
52. 52 Mute words let you avoid topics like politics if you don’t want to see them
53. 53 53 DON’T: Be afraid to be wrong
54. 54 People will call you out for being wrong – and you’ll learn! Imagine how long it would take to find out you were wrong if you kept it to yourself
55. 55 55 DON’T: Tweet about stuff too niche to your life/situation to be relatable
56. 56 Sweet
57. 57 57 DON’T: Put “@account” at the very very beginning of your tweet
58. 58 Using “@” at the very beginning registers as a reply to that account
59. 59 59 DON’T: Tweet things like “great read” without adding some of your own commentary or why
60. 60 60 DON’T: Be a suckup or constant congratulator People have enough “yes” men/women in their lives, be someone that makes them think
61. 61 61 DO: Find your own style/what works for you
62. 62 I like using threads and making memes, but everyone has their own style. Just make one that helps you find interesting people.
63. 63 63 DON’T: Give up! It’s a slow build
64. 64 And trust me, you’ll probably get rekt along the way…it’s inevitable but you’ll learn from it
65. 65 But eventually…you’ll find friends, advice, news, and more that’ll make the investment worth while
66. 66 THANK YOU!!! Except for this guy