Twitter surviving - personal considerations, tips, practices

This is a write down of how I (think I) use X (formerly Twitter). This is not - how to be popular, or how to be an influencer, or how to get a flock of followers. Even to the contrary - these are probably anti-patterns if your are aiming for fame & fortune.

These are written down what I think are my personal tips, previously unwritten guidelines, my own practices, of how I use X. I have gotten a lot out of X! There are many people that complain about all manner of things - but many many more that don't. The number of interesting things, links, discussions out there - is mind boggling. By SNR - it's way way better than the forums of old. I think - I put a only a little more effort than the minimal (about zero), to gain a whole lot more out of X. Same goes for Bsky. By default - both are pretty bland. But - put some effort in aggressively shaping your Follows-Followers, blocking and muting the worst offenders accounts (to whatever your taste is), muting words (esp related to some event - politics elections, football tournaments, etc), adding accounts to thematic personal List-s, and you may see disproportionate returns. There are interesting things out there - but they are like small fish in a humongous ocean. A very low probability finds. So like a gambler tilting the odds of fortuna ever so slightly to his advantage at every opportunity - do try to shift the otherwise unfavourable odds, make them be little less so.

Lately I notice similar usage patterns developing in my Bsky usage. Given there is only X and Bsky, and what was Twitter is now X, I will use the term the "Twitter" as a generic term to refer to both of them. Think possibly Mastodon is similar enough that it can be encompassed too. In the future - hopefully other networks too. The format seems general enough to be own genre. A social media network, primary text-based read/write, with short public posts as default, where posts can be considered minimal units of messaging, "quantas of ideas".

X - tips, guidelines, my practices.

  1. On mobile use browser https://x.com/home or X app, https://bsky.app/ or Bsky app. A browser tab is better than an App insofar one can open many tabs, with many views, while the App is only ever a single view. Further, better to use open web standards, and avoid using closed walled garden App-s where possible. What's used lives and develops, what's not used dies off.
  2. On desktop use XPro https://pro.x.com Tweetdeck and deck.blue https://deck.blue/ decks. Default to LISTS deck, check Personal, and only dive into individual lists when time to spare.
  3. Search own history - on X https://x.com/search?q=(from%3Aljupc0)&src=typed_query, on Bsky https://bsky.app/search?q=from%3Aljupco.bsky.social (click on Latest).
  4. Search own history in date range [2024-03-03,2024-05-13] on X https://x.com/search?q=(from%3Aljupc0)%20until%3A2024-05-13%20since%3A2024-03-03&src=typed_query&f=live then click on Latest to reverse sort by time.
  5. More X search tips at https://help.x.com/en/using-twitter/twitter-advanced-search.
  6. Filter own X TL feed with "filter:follows -filter:replies include:nativeretweets" so https://x.com/search?q=filter%3Afollows%20-filter%3Areplies%20include%3Anativeretweets&src=typed_query&f=live or shorter https://x.com/search?q=(from%3Aljupc0)&src=typed_query&f=live.

TL curating, dual aim: maximize SNR, maximize interaction. Assume value comes from connections between nodes.

Expected hit rate ~1% for minimal interaction (Like) that carries zero risk cost to the reader when reading a post user wrote.

Rules of thumb - break them with a reason, but not without any.

  1. Accounts to follow: any that seem interesting, notable, authors of books, videos, blog posts, podcasts etc you have already read, heard, watched. If recognize the name or the face => follow. Those that are mutuals - select +Notify on them to be reminded of their existing. X-algo mostly cares about 'Follow'-ing, but not about 'Mutual'-s where we both follow each other. Notifications were broken for most of X existing, but work lately. So use them for Mutuals. Mutual is a much stonger signal, N^2 instead of mere N. X is stupid/malevolent here - so use Notifications as a reminder for (Mutual,Now) post. Notifications should only be shown for Mutual-s. Where they are not a Mutual - turn off the Notification check mark.

  2. Follow back everyone that follows you as a default to start with. Take a chance on the possibility of interaction. (even if it's a small one.) Exceptions obvious spam accounts: elonmuskXXX, phishingXXX, celebrityXXX, influencerXXX, cryptoXXX, tradeXXX, casinoXXX, girlXXX, motivationalXXX. Don't follow obvious trolls, fakes, pseudoanons that are high volume general posters unless thematic (technology, science) that is of personal interest.

  3. When deciding should I follow or not, the question asked is: will I like to see this user posts in the future? Have your best guess - yes or no? Look holistically at the combined total of info available, forecast a) is the user a real human? b) will I want to read posts from them? 
    
        Info:      1-pic   2-namesurname     3-bluecheck                \     / Scan for "thick" pic/name/bio, "thin" is a "unfollow" signal as default;
                           4-@nick           5-followsyou                +---+  look at follows/followers>5 ratio, last post/reply months or years ago;
                           6-bio personal intro presentation hashtags   /     \ look of the number of posts or replies on their page, is it >100?

        Up/Down:   1-pic presence/absence, girlpic no/yes; 2-namesurname human like yes/no; 3-bluecheck yes/no; 4-@nick {girly12345,crypto,trading,engagement} bad;
        weight     5-followsyou yes/no; 6-bio missing or bad words - motivational, spammy, political, slogans, tags, politician/name, current/campaign morass.
        Filtering: red flags - no pic, bad name namesurname12345, bad nick girl12345 (except where name and nick match), bad bio missing;
                   bad words - "travel love crypto animals countries flags trading politics god christ orphan", acc ratio follows/followers>5;
                   net evidence good/bad flags/words - look for collaborating up/down yes/no decide if to Un/follow.

    If spending more time than a split second to decide: Grok "Summarise Profile", check profile Pinned post, 1st page of Posts, Replies, Highlights.

  4. Prominent accounts of interest add to Lists. (independent of following/follow status.) Doesn't have to be 1 single list, but don't overdo it: don't want too many lists to look same like the personal @acc. Create new lists, split existing lists at will. Lists: Tech-nology, ML-Machine Learning, QT-Quant Trading, Comp-uting, Data, Sci-ence, Chem-istry, Bio-logy, Phi-losophy, Edu-cation, Fin-ance, Econ-omy, Hist-ory, Cul-ture, Med-ia, Law, Pol-itics, Urb-anism, HPD-Harpenden, MKD-Macedonia, CEEu-Central Eastern Europe, Int-elligence. Assign account to list relative to the significance/meaning of that account to yourself - be very subjective. Depending of how special/general/distinct v.s. other feeds, do/don't set at list level "Don't show these posts in For You". Accounts followed that are high volume so there is 0 interaction - use Lists, add to list then Unfollow. Use "Not interested in this post" and "Show fewer posts from" in the "For you" to shape the feed.

  5. Accounts prolific posters, but boring, silly, propagandists, low SNR, low quality, crazies etc that X algos pushes - add to sink /dev/null list NIL. Then tick "Do not show these posts in For You" for that list in the individual list settings. Block is now uni-directional - use it more. Avoid Mute - it's another chore list to go through in future un-Mute scans.

  6. If something is worth forwarding, then follow the account. Give it a chance, find out. If after a time turns out no synergy - unfollow latter. Exceptions—big accounts with HUGE following: like mass-media of old 1:N boradcasting, zero interaction—don't follow. New follow account—add to a list. Look their bio, keywords matching a list - e.g. Tech-nology, Sci-ence - honour & add to that list.

  7. Unfollowing. Read the "Following" feed, find a posts you dislike, check @acc, if not a mutual - then Unfollow. General rule-favour doers. Don't follow acc known for being known, non-human, #SLOGAN-s, nick123, marketeers, crypto, girlface, neuro/disorder, flags, bolded. Take a look at acc photo-name-nick-bio, ask yourself: do I recognize, can I recall of anything about this acc? If NO => then Unfollow. If you recognize the acc profile, then: do I recall their posts, will I want to read again tomorrow? If NO => then Unfollow. Don't be petty. If you like someone's posts - keep following. There is still >0 value in one sided interaction. Don't spend time checking list membership, assume already checked and added. Accounts following your lists - follow too, look for synergy.

  8. Manual "Activity Feed". When @acc appers in Notifications, use the opportunity to check their posts. Go throught the top pages of their Posts, Replies, Highlights. Read posts, like and re-post, reply to any of interest. Keep in mind un/follow decision is a low-regret one. Be proactive, un-follow if Algofeed is too pushy, re-follow to check back after a time. Don't bother with numbers, don't spend time on QC checking lists, give up on manual curration. Just keep adding users to the lists. When the ratio Follows/Followers is too high, X will not allow you to add to Follow. Then go through the Followers list, just looking at the list Un-follow ones that a) can't recall reading from b) don't follow you c) lack BT d) lack pic e) lack bio f) lack IRL name.

  9. Your own posts. Like your own posts on posting - or not! Use AI to spruce them up - or not!
    Reasons for liking your own:
    1. To remind self that you should really like what you post, to never be ashamed of it. If you don't like what you post—how is anyone else to?
      Keeps you honest on your toes. Don't get sloppy. Don't hide behind irony, allusions and other plausible-deniability cowardess.
    2. Reddit and Hacker News automatically credit one uptick to a post to start with, just for posting. Even if a post turns rubbish:
      for the chance taken & effort put in writing/doing, in preference to not writing/keeping quiet, a small reward is deserved.
    3. Symbolic poetic gives it small good luck push. As if a departing boat. A reminder—once posted, post starts a life, a journey, of their own.
    4. So they show in the Liked tab, in context with all the other things read at the time and assumed like for making an impression enough to post.
    Reasons against liking your own:
    1. It's a bit pathetic, looks needy.
    Use ChatGPT to massage and make more palatable longer posts. Try indicate to a knowing user that ChatGPT was used without being explicit:
    1. Use **bold** and *italic* formatting as is ChatGPT default, both for that but also b/c longer posts will warant some markup.
    2. Don't explicitly disclaim: wastes space, is inelegant, gives credence to the "naturalistic" fallacy. (we don't ack keyboard/computer either)

  10. Mutuals - accounts where we mutually follow each other. Even if no significant interaction, persist. No interaction is probably to X never putting your posts in the their feed and vice versa. Chances of someone checking anyones personal page is ~0. Only ever unfollow if suspect reading theirs reduce your knowledge. E.g. suspected Gell-Mann Amnesia. Don't worry about the numbers, give up on manual curration. The aim is bi-directional interaction of high SNR b/c that's *multiplicative*: 100 good connections outweigh 1000 poor connections. For that to happen—more likely if mutuals, than not.

  11. Accounts that blocked you - block back too no exceptions. While it's emotionally satifying (+1) and tit-for-tat is (paradoxically) fine strategy for better coordination (+2), the final decider (+Inf) is: obviously they found the interaction unsatisfactory. So now: don't insist, that would be both stupid and semi-violent. Block them so to minimise any temptation for any future interaction that X may tempt you into. There are another 8B humans to potentially interact with. Give people a chance. Otherwise prefer (a) NIL sink list shunting; or (b) temporary turn off reposts X is too keen on. Avoid Mute - keep the Mute list empty, it's too much hassle to be maintaining manually both a Mute and a Block list. From time to time semi annually go through the blocked list and unblock every account (ragardless if still blocked). It's manual and 50 accounts/pop before getting throttled by X - but still persever and clear the list. Then start a new cycle from ground zero.

  12. Increase the chance of interaction. Keep active - post, quote, reply, repost, like. Heed X "Who to follow" - follow accounts, unfollow if no traction. Add interesting posts on Highlights. Periodically scan, find topical or interesting post, repost if still relevance not expired with the time passing. There are 8e9 humans, 1e8 on X. Chance to match interests 1:1 is low 1e-16. Keep looking for high SNR interactions. Keep trying to improve the 1% hit rate. Do not attempt manual curation or moderation of the lists, follows, followers etc. Until platform constraint is hit - keep appending to the lists.

X algofeed is moderated every second of the time. Stats as follows. You follow 5000 accounts. Each one writes 1 post a day = 5000 posts a day. You login to X, X algofeed serves 50 posts on one screen full. Check X 10 times per day = 500 posts X will show you daily. That is 500 out of possible 5000 to be shown, and 4500 to not be shown. X must decide which 500, out of 5000 possible, to show you. Any one post has probability 0.1 to be shown. You will see 1 post from 1 account once in 10 days. X algo is non-random, tilts towards factors like accounts interaction, engagement via {Like,Forward,Quote,Reply} of posts, bio check. Prob decayed by time with half-life.

XPro tweetdeck (TLDR: for every list in Lists, add Deck==list; add Deck==list-of-Lists; add Deck==Personal, add Deck==Communities):

  1. Have List==Deck, add important frequent prominent posters from a List into the Deck.
  2. Where account belongs to multiple List-s, chose one List only and add it to that one list Deck only.
  3. Have a separate deck LISTS for all lists, and add all your X Lists in it.
  4. Have a separate deck for Personal feeds: Search from:ljupc0, @ljupc0 Notifications, Home For you, Home Following, @ljupc0 Grok, Profile My Profile, @ljupc0 My Bookmarks, @ljupc0 Messages, @ljupc0 Explore.
  5. Have a separate deck for Communities you have joined - add deck Communities and add a selection of joined communities in it.

Archive of my posts is linked here. It's a text dump without much organisation. TBD TODO

















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LJ HPD Sun 24 Nov 18:40:24 GMT 2024