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

More from Twitter

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.

Robin Monotti
@robinmonotti

Twitter removed 800 followers from my account today. People have been writing saying twitter automatically unfollowed me for them. Follow me on Parler @robinmonotti & Telegram https://t.co/o5rFaSrCpa to bypass this.

I have already left both Facebook & Instagram. We need to keep agile.

They will try to ban Parler, blaming it for Capitol theatre. I think Telegram may survive as it's not based in the

Yes Telegram owner @durov received & accepted what effectively is an award, not a partnership: the Young Global Leaders membership of the World Economic Forum in 2017. Does this mean he passes users info on? I don't think so.

This is what @Snowden had to say about @durov. Since then Telegram introduced the option of end to end encrypted chats not saved in Telegram servers. These private chats cannot be forwarded, and none of the participants can capture screenshots of

Trust us not to turn over data. Trust us not to read your messages. Trust us not to close your channel. Maybe @Durov is an angel. I hope so! But angels have fallen before. Telegram should have been working to make channels decentralized\u2014meaning outside their control\u2014for years.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) December 30, 2017

Koshiek Karan
@iamkoshiek

Here are 20 of my best threads from 2020 covering personal finance, entrepreneurship, economics & finance, investment banking ++ useful resources.

Massively grateful to everyone who took time out to read, comment & share these across the year. I really appreciate you.

[Thread]

1. Breaking-in – study notes, free textbooks & past

If you have any study notes, past exam papers, quick excel models... anything you feel could help Twitter peeps, post the links below \U0001f4aa\U0001f4aa
— Koshiek Karan (@iamkoshiek) May 29, 2020

2. Breaking-in – the job connector

The interview job connector thread. If you're currently job hunting, please post the industry/role & someone who is already in the field can give you tailored tips ++ share their experiences \U0001f4aa\U0001f3fd\U0001f4aa\U0001f3fd
— Koshiek Karan (@iamkoshiek) December 4, 2020

3. Breaking-in – book smart vs. street

Anyone who has ever worked a corporate job will tell you where you studied means very little.

Education doesn't guarantee ability.
— Koshiek Karan (@iamkoshiek) August 8, 2020

4. Personal Finance – MEGA Property

The Reserve Bank cut the repo rate by 25bps & just like clockwork, the rats who are paid to sell houses are encouraging people to go out & buy

The usual "influencers"/ estate agents/ mortgage brokers/ banks/ loan sharks/ excavator salesmen

Here's a useful MEGA property thread:
— Koshiek Karan (@iamkoshiek) July 23, 2020

Amanda Orson
@amandaorson

1/ Meta thread about "Going Pro" on Twitter.

I've been a Twitter power user since 2008 or so. Long time.

I've watched it change from an impromptu conversation or watch party platform to a place for people to build their professional reputations and network.

2/ In many ways it's matured into a more effective professional platform than LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is (mostly) about collecting the professional contacts you've met.

Twitter is a place to meet new people.

That much hasn't

Facebook is where you learn you don't like a lot of the people you know. Twitter is where you learn to like people you don't know already.
— Amanda Orson (@amandaorson) August 2, 2012

3/ What also hasn't changed is its power for networking.

This is particularly useful if you break out of your echo chamber and talk, build relationships with people doing tangentially related things.

You're bricklaying and with patience it pays off.

Back of the napkin math - over the last year I've referred (or retained) $500k+ worth of business to contacts in my network.
— Amanda Orson (@amandaorson) November 16, 2016

4/ What has changed is a growing population of people being *intentional* about the use of Twitter for their professional lives.

Observations on what's working for them:

5/ They "Build in public" - sharing behind the scenes perspectives on whatever it is you're doing professionally.

What do people not know about what you do?

Stick within your expertise, with focus, where people see you are an authority - that’s where you grow a following.

Growth Tactics
@GrowthTactics

Twitter is, by far, the fastest way to build a high-quality audience.

Why?

It's quicker to write insightful tweets than it is to produce 10min YouTube videos or 1400-word blog posts.

Here's a thread of actionable tactics from studying the fastest-growing Twitter accounts.

2/ Fast-growing accounts have two things in common:

1. They spend 30+ minutes per day sourcing and refining 1-3 daily tweets. They don't wing what they say, and they typically sit on each idea for a few days.

2. Key: They write tweets that get *retweeted.*

3/ Retweets bring followers.

We polled people to ask why they retweet. They said:

1. "Retweeting is my bookmarking system for ideas."

2. "I retweet when someone's put elegant words to my thoughts."

3. "I want my followers to know I relate to this statement."

4/ So, to get more RTs:

1. Tweet referenceable content that people will refer back to later.

2. Challenge the status quo with elegance and wit.

3. Pick a debate and argue your side with a novel take.

The most RTed tweets? *Threads with advice like this.*

5/ How to write a tweet:

• Open with a hook: Make it counterintuitive or counter-narrative.
• Concise body: Satisfy the craving your hook created.
• End with a punchy zinger: Summarize implications of your finding and what it means for the reader.

Imagine for a moment the most obscurantist, jargon-filled, po-mo article the politically correct academy might produce. Pure SJW nonsense. Got it? Chances are you're imagining something like the infamous "Feminist Glaciology" article from a few years back.https://t.co/NRaWNREBvR pic.twitter.com/qtSFBYY80S
— Jeffrey Sachs (@JeffreyASachs) October 13, 2018

The article is, at heart, deeply weird, even essentialist. Here, for example, is the claim that proposing climate engineering is a "man" thing. Also a "man" thing: attempting to get distance from a topic, approaching it in a disinterested fashion.

Also a "man" thing—physical courage. (I guess, not quite: physical courage "co-constitutes" masculinist glaciology along with nationalism and colonialism.)

There's criticism of a New York Times article that talks about glaciology adventures, which makes a similar point.

At the heart of this chunk is the claim that glaciology excludes women because of a narrative of scientific objectivity and physical adventure. This is a strong claim! It's not enough to say, hey, sure, sounds good. Is it true?