Disclaimer: This post isn't for bragging. I've had people ask me whether or not Twitter is worth it.
I joined Twitter less than 60 days ago. As of this writing, I have 358 followers, am following 460 other awesome people, and have written almost 1300 tweets. My tweets have also earned over 600k impressions. (I'm especially proud that my top two tweets hold roughly 20% of those impressions and they both have to do with web accessibility. π)
Joining Twitter is also the biggest action I took in April that lead me to my new job I'm about to start.
Why should I even bother?
There are a lot of inspiring people doing big things on Twitter. For me, it has been so empowering to see successful women in tech. Here are a couple of lists if you're looking for more people to follow.
Twitter is also a great place to learn about what technology or frameworks are being used by people outside of your bubble. It's easy for us to get tunnel vision about the stacks we use, so seeing what others are learning and what they have to say about it is very enlightening. These are some great hashtags to pay attention to if you 're not sure where to start.
Finally, Twitter is great for job networking and/or meeting people in your area. As I said up top, Twitter is the reason I got my foot in the door at the company I'm about to start working for. About 1 month after creating my profile, I decided to message another woman in tech about any ideas she had on people hiring front end developers focused on accessibility. She introduced me to a developer in my city, and then he introduced me to my future boss. Seriously, social media is like magic. Not only did I end up finding a job from this exchange, but also found some really great friends who are supportive and full of wisdom.
Ok, so how do I get started?
My biggest is advice is this: just put yourself out there. Be unapologetically authentic. If people like you, great. If not, it's just the internet. You're (hopefully) not there just to impress strangers. If you're not hurting anyone, keep moving forward and being yourself.
My second piece of advice: go out of your comfort zone. Interact with "famous" people. Ask questions. Answer questions! We're all learning here. If people make you feel bad about yourself because you're new to the field or trying something new, that's not on you. There are plenty of supportive folx who will have your back and don't mind whatsoever where you're at in your career or skillset.
My final piece of advice: learn out loud. It may seem like no one is listening at first, but that's what handy hashtags are for! People do follow those. If you created a static site with Gatsby, @ them. They'll probably retweet it! This is just one good way to get some exposure and even feedback on what you're working on.
Did you know I have a newsletter? π¬
If you want to get notified when I publish new blog posts or make major project announcements, head over to https://ashleemboyer.com/newsletter.
Image by Sara KurfeΓ on Unsplash
Latest comments (46)
I really like your idea of using Twitter for networking, so without turning this into a rant, and this is not a rant, here are my two cents.
There are a very tiny percentage of people who, for reasons I'll explain below, cannot make a twitter account. As you probably know, twitter requires a phone number for account verification. There are many stories on the internet these days about people getting locked out of their accounts because they created a twitter account with an email but a phone number is required for them.
You see, Twitter has a listbox of countries to write your phone number in, but some countries are not on that list. Sudan is one of them unfortunately. This effectively makes it impossible for people like me who have a phone number belonging to Sudan to verify their accounts.
So in the absence of a twitter account, this is the strategy I use for networking that kind of gets the same effect as having one:
I use Facebook for all real world interactions because people there are more likely to be real, and it has the benefit of being able to bump shoulders (virtually) with people not in the tech industry (I never understood why developers consider a tech twitter account as a must have, if you could explain that would be great). This is the account I expect to get real life opportunities from other friends.
Then I have Mastodon as a twitter-like solution. Of course you won't find big names there but it's an awesome diverse community for the occasional tech-related thought. As lower Alexa-ranked website you don't network here because there aren't people to network with. It's just for sharing thoughts.
Speaking of sharing thoughts: People have been wondering what Twitter should do with its business model to make it profitable. I propose breaking the twitter app into a tech twitter app, a lifestyle twitter app, an everyday twitter app, etc. you get the idea. Each topic gets it's own app. This will make discussions more relevant and increases the chances that the users you follow there are also developer-minded. This also releases a large amount of energy in the form of data which would enable Twitter to process it like Facebook does which it could then sell, which would generate revenue. Though I'm not sure they would turn to me for advice π
EDIT: By the way, it's always useful to have LinkedIn handy as a resume.
Just thought I would share that with you π Of course I lurk on twitter anonymously because it's always useful to get someone's website as a kind of business card.
Couldn't agree more Ashlee! I've been networking on Twitter since before 2010 under various handles and hashtags for business purposes only of course. Lucky enough to have discovered many an opportunity in tech through collaborative efforts with likeminded people who I have almost always never actually met in real life before. My goal is to engage successfully with a verified user on Twitter. Have any of your tweets trended before? Oh and thanks again for sharing this, great post.
I have a really strong Twitter network in my native language, but I recently started an English one and I'm failing to interact with people there. I'm going to follow your advice and hopefully things will turn around!
My main problem is the langage. As I'm not english native it's really hard to get on some conversations or threads or discussions. Even if I've beginner level, I have to translate some of what I'm reading and i'm sometimes so frustrated
No pain, no gain. Keep doing it and you'll improve rapidly.
Advice: understand every word. If you use linux, install
dict. For windows, maybe try Lingoes?Thank you for this! I've had my Twitter for a few months now too but I don't have nearly the amount of success that you have. I've never been much of a social media person but I've been putting a big push recently to try to use it not just more but more effectively. I'm gonna try these tips out in the near future
How many hours a day do you spend on Twitter?
I live in Venezuela and I'm in the process of moving out due to a lot of reasons beyond the scope of this article. However, Twitter has served me quite a lot to find new clients and even job opportunities in the country I'm going to!
Excellent article
Twitter is also a great place to learn aboutwhat technology or frameworks are being used by people outside of your bubbleThis is the main reason why i keep using twitter, i always want to see different approach of the same topic, thats make me get a wide scope about it.
Awesome article! I started twitter ages ago but keep gaining and losing interest in it. One day I'll post 3/4 times and then suddenly I won't post for a week! I also don't really interact with others much which I presume is half the problem why I haven't got many followers!
I definitely think interaction is key! ποΈ To add a tiny bit of context, I joined Twitter with the intention to meet people and stay updated on what's going on in the tech world. These were goals I clearly set for myself before I did anything. Twitter can become a massive time suck or overwhelming to navigate, so maybe take some time to think about:
LOVE THIS!!! Don't forget one of the most important hashtags to follow, #DEVCommunity π
Of course!! One of my favorite hashtags. π
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