Happy 2021, everyone!

To kick off the new year right, here is a thread of people that I love to follow. Check them out and follow them if you can. If we follow each other and you want to be added, please let me know.

Love,
Rata

Why are SWs freaking out right now? (This gets bumpy, hold on.)

Twitter came through and deleted a ton of accounts. We are worried that we are next. It could be nudity, it could be retweets, it could be content posted- we don't know. And while Twitter has clear rules, SWs get

Punished often for not even breaking the rules but just existing, so we are on edge.

Twitter/IG/TikTok are ways we advertise and build a base so when we get deplatformed without explanation, we have to start from scratch somewhere else. We lose years of contacts/content.

So, what is driving these tightened restrictions?

It could be a bunch of laws. FOSTA/SESTA came through a few years ago & made it very unsafe for SWs, both online and real time workers. It even crippled businesses like sex educators and therapists. This was a bipartisan effort.

Bc of these laws, platforms censored their content and users. Remember those Craigslist ads? Meet up groups? Bad date lists?

All gone when F/S came through. So let's move to EARN IT. EI is in limbo right now, just waiting on the new term to get rolling. It isn't dead.

EI is gonna be the every man's F/S. EI is gonna censor so many of YOU READING THIS and then what will you do!? (More of that later.)

Fuck. Ok. Then we have Section 230, also just fucking chillin, waiting for passing. 230 is gonna make it to where sites will be held liable

If you use it right, Twitter is the most powerful platform in the world.

But Twitter does a horrible job of showing you its advanced features.

Here are 10 of them you probably know nothing about:

The most underutilized Twitter feature: advanced search.

It blows my mind how few people know this.

Want to find someone's best tweets?

In the search bar, type:

from:dickiebush min_faves:500

Replace the handle and the number of likes as you see fit.

Another good advanced search tip:

Want to see everyone's tweets on a particular topic?

In the search bar, type:

from:dickiebush "consistency"

Again, replace the handle and keyword as you see fit.

You can filter by popularity too:

from:dickiebush "consistency" min_faves:100

We all have those people we don't want following us, but don't want to block.

Here's a good hack:

Block them, then unblock them.

This will unfollow you, but they'll never know.

Get mentioned in a tweet that is receiving way too many replies, turning your notifications into a disaster?

I've been there.

Click to expand the details of the tweet, then click the three dots on the top right-hand corner.

Then, click "mute this conversation."

My friend @EduCelebrity has been doing a #YearInReview tweet thread (check it out), in which he relives some of his best tweets from 2020.

I’m opting to do a #YearInPreview thread where I predict what will happen over the next 12 months in education...here we go...

January:

Teachers come back to school (virtually or in-person) fired up and ready to implement some great new ideas and strategies as part of their New Year’s resolutions.

Mid-January:

All new ideas flamed out as teachers begin their summer countdown. #YearInPreview

February:

Valentine’s Day parties include students exchanging virtual cards with each other via their virtual Valentine’s Day boxes. Joey’s mom hires a professional web designer so Joey’s virtual box is the best in the class and puts pictures of it on Instagram. #YearInPreview

March:

Depressed that St. Patrick’s Day has been cancelled (again), teachers put Irish Cream in their morning Starbucks and get rewarded by admin for their creativity...just kidding, they get fired. #YearInPreview

April:

Test prep is in full swing. Teachers try to prepare students they’ve never actually met, and whom have never participated in online instruction for a test that doesn’t matter. Principal asks if she’s ever contacted the parents to which she replies with a middle finger.