I’ve tweeted every day for more than 3 years.

But growth on Twitter has never been as unpredictable as it is right now.

Nobody knows that the algo wants.

Some observations based on last 3 months of my X data

3 Types of posts do well:

1. Engagement bait/divisive/reply worthy content - I generally avoid this.
2. Newsy posts - Twitter is really doubling down on being the “townsquare” of the world.

I’ve tried this - pickup a trending topic in twitter trends and write a tweet about it, there’s a great chance it will get picked up by the algo and go beyond your followers.

But its hard.

1. Bookmark worthy content -

This is the game I like to play - short, byte sized, useful content that people will want to come back to.

This works, but only sometimes..

TikTokification

In general this is the TikTokification of all social media, as I’m learning with the YT shorts algo as well. Your follower count doesn’t matter.

The algo shows your content to an initial set of people (say 100 for X, or 400 for YT) and then determines if its good enough to be shown to a larger group or not.

So your content has to generate an emotion/response/hate/love immediately.

Quality content that doesn’t get initial love will die out in the noise.

What you need is quality content + emotion/news/bookmark value

Even #buildinpublic content will get crickets if it doesn’t have any of these 3 elements.

A Note on 100K+ Accounts

A note on large accounts -

Most large players with 100K+ followers are part of engagement pods where they pay people to reply/quote them within the first 30 minutes of posting.

This I learnt during my ghostwriting days 2 years ago, and can spot an engagement pod in an instant.

But for most regular folks like us that’s not useful because it doesn’t attract an authentic following.

So if you want to take twitter seriously -

• Don’t get bogged down by the low engagement, its okay
• This is a good opportunity to get reach without many followers (if you write the 3 types of content mentioned above)
• Don’t compare yourself to large accounts, they’re playing a different game.

This was based on my data and what I’ve observed in others.

Now some tactical stuff -

Tactical Twitter Tips

1. Videos > Images > Text
2. Tuesdays - Thursdays are the best days to post
3. 1-4 PM GMT is the best time to post - that’s when most of startup/tech twitter is awake from across time zones.
4. Threads > Long form articles
5. Early likes, bookmarks, replies matter a lot
6. Replies carry way more weight than any other type of engagement.
7. If you’re a small account, it makes more sense to reply more than to post original content - you’ll reach more people replying to a 100K account than by posting the same thing on your 1000 follower account.

Final Note

All of this is good, but don’t lose sight of what you want from Twitter.

Its not about the big numbers, its about the quality of people you can connect with.

I’ve seen 50k+ accounts struggling to make a living and 1000 follower accounts getting consistent lead flow.

Personally for me Twitter has been great.

I’ve found leads, clients, subscribers, customers, even business partners here.

But most importantly, I’ve found some amazing friends on this platform.

It may be volatile, but this is still the best place to meet smart people doing cool shit.

Hope you found this useful.

Here's a web version of the post to bookmark and share.

DNA School Invite

If you're a budding creator or entrepreneur from India, I would love to invite you to DNA School. It's a 3 day Bootcamp in IIT Madras, hosted by my friend Deepak, where a bunch of expert creators are teaching content creation for business.

I will be teaching sessions on short form writing for twitter, newsletters, building in public etc. In general how you can use writing to grow your business.

Other expert topics include - Podcasting, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Positioning, Storytelling etc.

This is how Deepak described it -

• one classroom.
• Students from age 20 - 60.
• 10 modern-day creators walk in as profs.
• and teach you "how to grow your business on the internet"

This is DNA School.
Find out more in this LinkedIn Post -

• ​DNA School Details​

And apply from this form -

• ​DNA School Application Form​

Seats are filling out fast, so make sure you sign up.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me.

This will be a great opportunity for us to meet in person ❤️

See you there.

From the vault -

3 random post from the Superframeworks archives -

• ​20 Best Micro SaaS Ideas to Build Right Now in 2024 (With REAL Examples)​
• ​📝 $32K MRR editing words​
• ​$34K MRR - Simple chatbot builder tool​

🔗 Super Links

Useful links you don’t want to miss -

• ​Update on the first 1:1 sales call of my life - me
• ​I think about decisions in three ways: hats, haircuts, and tattoos - liminal
• ​Founder Mode - Paul Graham
• ​BREAKING: The X TV App has launched - Alex Finn
• ​Pricing determines your business model - Jason Cohen

Last week’s top link -

• ​My playbook for micro SaaS startups to get to $10k/mo in 3 months - John Rush

🤗 How can I help?

Whenever you’re ready, here’s how I can help you -

• ​Join the tiny community for your big dreams -
  • Feedback sessions/Demo Days to get personalized feedback 📝
  • Co-working sessions and a peer accountability group with weekly checkins 💪
  • Courses, Tutorials, Workshops on topics like SEO, Copywriting, Landing Pages, and more so that you keep growing 🚀
  • And lots more!
• We support, inform, educate and inspire each other every day. We are a tight knit group of indie hackers and solopreneurs working on our projects. We would love to have you. Entrepreneurship is hard, don’t do it alone. Come join us!​
• ​Get Copy OS - A complete system to write high converting copy (Like a Pro!) - 800+ users and 17 5 star review!
• ​Make money with words: Find your voice and monetize your writing

Thanks,

Ayush 🙏