Comment by aarondf | Hacker News Reader

Comment by aarondf | Hacker News Reader

I enjoy being on Twitter a lot. In the past year I've started "taking it seriously" in terms of growing an audience, and it has been a blast. I've set up three rules for my being on Twitter[0]:

• Encourage other people - if you like the work someone is doing, tell them!

• Be positive - a feed full of negativity is zero fun to follow.

• Share what you're working on - people are drawn to other people in motion.

I also am very careful about who I follow. I don't "hate-follow" anyone. And I'm pretty liberal with regard to muting stuff.

There is a big trend right now (or always?) of people grifting on Twitter, and I mute every single one of those people. It's all the engagement-bait stuff that you're probably super familiar with. Questions that aren't questions, half-baked thought threads, and hot takes that are only there to gin up "engagement."

I recorded a podcast[1] with some friends recently about how to use Twitter as a human being and not a grifter. They were both super anti-Twitter and I was able to swing them my direction a bit. I think most people just follow the wrong people and get sucked into the hate machine.

There are definitely corners of Twitter that are a lot of fun and very valuable!

[0] https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis/status/1434287141887021058

[1] https://share.transistor.fm/s/c854b56e

I'm on a similar philosophical trajectory and I think there are enough folks like you that make Twitter interesting and fun without the caustic parts of social media.

Another excellent example of this positive and no BS version of Twitter (though probably well-known on HN already) is Andreas Kling [0] (creator of SerenityOS).

[0] https://twitter.com/awesomekling

Thank you! I agree, I think there are a surprising number of people on Twitter that just want to make stuff and hang around other people that make stuff. Perhaps the loudest people are the hot-take / outrage / breaking news folks, but I just don't follow them! I follow other makers! It makes it a lot of fun.

This sounded oddly similar to my Twitter experience and then I noticed we're more or less in the same Twitter bubble

Haha yeah, I've been following you for a bit! Small world. I think I found you through Adam Elmore maybe? Speaking of positive people... Adam Elmore!

Sounds like a great strategy. One of the advantages is that you’re differentiated from the accounts that are feeding the hate machine. There is a hunger out there for authentic positivity, and it’s in short supply.

> There is a hunger out there for authentic positivity

I think you nailed it with that.

One of the things I'm fond of saying is "being excited is underrated." If you're actually excited about something you're working on, or something cool that someone else is doing, be excited! I think lots of people try to hard to be "cool" instead of potentially letting themselves look silly by being excited. (Also this goes well beyond Twitter, into real life.)

> I don't "hate-follow" anyone.

It blows my mind that anybody would actually do this, but I guess it's a thing.

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