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 changed.

https://t.co/3nemTwNAcX
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.

https://t.co/nHZaE8vPpn
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.
6/ They still syndicate the content that they create on other platforms (YouTube, websites, Stackshare, Gumroad) for Twitter, but it's no longer spray-and-pray or autoposting.

It's previews.
Snapshots.
Deeper Cuts.
Q&A.
Engaging with the audience that consumes your content.
7/ Their followers know their ask.

Principally they fall into one of 3 buckets

- Sales (informational products, subscriptions, books)
- Referrals (Business Development, LPs, acquisitions, employment)
- Email signups (from Substack to websites)
8/ They may not realize it, but they're engaged in content marketing.

All of the rules @randfish laid out in his excellent 2015 deck apply https://t.co/gCRv4b744p

- they inspire a community
- reinforce a belief
- refute an opposing argument
- start a passionate discussion
9/

- discuss what's in someone else's financial/ promotional interests
- leverage group inclusion dynamics
- make the sharer look smart/ important/ cool
10/ Informal conversation still happens, but it's mostly in replies.

Replies are still open season to be friendly, deepen relationships, and - the most important value prop of all to Twitter - a barrier-less way to ask questions of people that would otherwise be unreachable.
11/

No one cares about your personality (not enough for a follow).

They care about your expertise. And what they can learn.

That’s your highest point of authority, when you leverage what you know best.

(That's a big difference between 2008 and 2021 Twitter.)
12/ The key difference between being a "pro" on Twitter vs an amateur comes down to the audience you're writing for:

Pros are writing for a specific external audience.
Amateurs are writing for their friends or themselves.

Twitter is maturing, and it's fertile ground for pros.

More from Twitter

After hearing about @JanelSGM from @csallen, I spent the past few hours digging into her Twitter feed to see how she has been building Newsletter OS in public, from ideation to launch.

Here are some highlights in chronological order and what you can learn from the process:

1/ August 5 2020: Janel digs into '50+ newsletters' (note the number to build credibility) and creates a thread to discuss the lessons learnt. She also mentions that this is for a side project, which raises awareness of something she may be working


2/ August 5 2020 (cont): Each tweet in the thread is focused on a key message, with clear pointers for newsletter writers to


3/ September 1 2020: Janel tweeted about #buildinginpublic (note the hashtag) with @pabloheredia24 for @makerpad's challenge. While the project is https://t.co/tMb1qCnxVY and not NewsletterOS, Janel is getting in the reps on how to build in

4/ October 18 2020: Janel hints at building her new product using @NotionHQ and @gumroad. But instead of telling the audience directly what the product is, she invites her audience to take a guess.

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Funny, before the election I recall lefties muttering the caravan must have been a Trump setup because it made the open borders crowd look so bad. Why would the pro-migrant crowd engineer a crisis that played into Trump's hands? THIS is why. THESE are the "optics" they wanted.


This media manipulation effort was inspired by the success of the "kids in cages" freakout, a 100% Stalinist propaganda drive that required people to forget about Obama putting migrant children in cells. It worked, so now they want pics of Trump "gassing children on the border."

There's a heavy air of Pallywood around the whole thing as well. If the Palestinians can stage huge theatrical performances of victimhood with the willing cooperation of Western media, why shouldn't the migrant caravan organizers expect the same?

It's business as usual for Anarchy, Inc. - the worldwide shredding of national sovereignty to increase the power of transnational organizations and left-wing ideology. Many in the media are true believers. Others just cannot resist the narrative of "change" and "social justice."

The product sold by Anarchy, Inc. is victimhood. It always boils down to the same formula: once the existing order can be painted as oppressors and children as their victims, chaos wins and order loses. Look at the lefties shrieking in unison about "Trump gassing children" today.