#26: How I rebooted my Twitter presence by joining a digital writing community
It’s been boring being a South African on Twitter the last few years.
Everyone I actually knew or used to engage with left the platform long ago. But when I started connecting with the #ship30for30 cohort and alumni writers, my feed came alive again!
Unless you’re into social voyeurism, cancel culture or celebrity scandal, there’s been little on offer there. Going to post there was like ‘hellooo?’ — only to get ‘echo-echo-echo…’ in return.
Joining the course instantly connected me to a community of digital writers from all walks of life. People who are life learners, inspired and chasing their dreams…
And most importantly: talking about writing and creating all over their feeds.
Now this is the place I’d been looking for!
A while ago I unfollowed everyone (except my husband) & deleted thousands of stale tweets to reset my page. Those tweets, from an earlier highly engaged time, no longer reflected who I was anymore — some of them were super cringe.
I started over, slowly following people that were active and interesting: creative mentors, writers, journalists, thinkers & coaches.
But I was still just on the receiving end. These types of accounts generally didn’t follow back, so I was still not ‘in community’ on Twitter.
I also ‘lost my voice’ for a period of time, so wasn’t engaging openly and using the platform to make new connections — something I’d enjoyed so much about Twitter in the early days.
It was almost like I’d forgotten how.
Back in the day, I actually met people on Twitter that became friends in real life — that was the magic of the platform back then.
It was a place to connect with niche communities, share ideas and expand your network. I was working in the music industry at the time. I’d made real international connections using Twitter and kept in touch with people I’d met after a two year stint in London.
It felt like an open tap of opportunity!
It was where you came to hang out and stay connected to, well, everything that was going on.
Flash forward to today and a lot has changed. My local connections drifted away as the platform lost its lustre — and let’s face it, Twitter became problematically toxic.
Image-driven people moved on to platforms like Instagram, while the more wordy ones stayed on Twitter, hoping the party would go on…
It’s been as fun as a deflated party balloon around here since then. And yet, Twitter is still here so something had to give right!?
Joining the cohort, I’ve seen how niche communities can still thrive on Twitter.
The course directed us to use it as a convergence place to connect publicly and engage with the content everyone is working so hard on — so smart!
This is how all niche communities can re-frame the platform in a way that is vitalising and supportive:
Claim it as a space to hang out, talk about what we love and find the courage — and psychological safety — to build in public.
It’s been a wonderful thing to experience!
The only downside; Twitter comes alive late at night for us in SA. We’re 7 hours ahead of the US on Pacific Time and 10 hours ahead on Eastern Standard Time.
The majority of users are US-based, including most of my faves that I follow. So, it can mean there’s a lot of blue-screening before bed to catch the awesome in my feed.
But, it’s probably worth it, right? #latenighttweets #twitterafterdark
Nonetheless, it feels good to be connected to the global pulse again.
If you’re still reading, thanks for coming to my first thread!
Long live our little writers party on Twitter! Keep shipping. x
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