The platform is a cesspool of disgusting things floating across your screen. If you’re not careful, it will spill into your lap.
On the other hand, it is one of the best features of the modern age. Here is how to use Twitter to dramatically improve your life.
Be selective, for your mental health
In the first place, accepting X’s default feed is the worst possible way to engage the platform. There is a never-ending stream of irrelevant content thrown against my optic nerve. In seconds, it becomes both compelling and tedious.
Human nature being what it is, I find myself optimistic that the next post will be worthwhile. Sometimes it is.
Like the laboratory rat feverishly working the lever that delivers the next rare cocaine treat, I am tempted to scroll away the evening.
I could be doing something productive instead. Like sleeping.
Three essentials to master X
First: Follow!
Identify people whose content is worthwhile and follow them. The X algorithm presents their content to you first. You have immediately succeeded in cutting through the noise.
But how to identify the people to follow? Yes, this will require some initial unmanaged scrolling. You’ll find some you like — there are lots of quality posts buried in the pile.
I would urge you to be discriminate in whom you follow. Start with about a dozen, no more.
Second: Comment!
Maximizing the X experience means using it the way social media ought to be used: To start meaningful conversations.
(If I were clever, I would say something cheesy like, “Put the social in social media!” But I find such tripe tiresome.)
The danger in posting your comment is the temptation to merely occupy space while saying nothing worthwhile. Any fool can read a post and say, “Yeah! Me too!”
The value in commenting is to extend the conversation: Challenge the poster’s assumptions; ask a question to clarify; pose a related thought. A thoughtful response can lead to a reply, by the poster or others, which moves into deeper territory.
Respect and politeness still have not lost their charm. Any written communication can easily be misunderstood. Put the blowtorch away.
And don’t miss this part: X (and every other platform) is filled with meaningless advice. Even the best of us end up spouting worthless drivel like, Be true to yourself! Fall in love with your heart! Dream your way to success!
When you find a post you consider a waste of electrons, just smile benignly and move on. We are all where we are.
Third: Curate!
Which is a $4 word meaning to be selective. Fortunately, the X platform offers a menu (on the left side of the screen if you’re using a computer; or by clicking your avatar if you’re using a smartphone) to refine your surfing experience.
The Lists function is enormously helpful. Use it to see daily content only from selected users. (I did not come up with this myself… somebody had to show me how it works.) Here is how I did this:
Find a writer whose posts are meaningful to you. See who they follow. You can find this from their Profile.
Scan the posts of those writers. When you find someone you like, who is followed by someone you follow, add that one to a List of your own. Name that new List something appropriate (“My Daily Choices”).
When you log onto X, go immediately to the Lists and select My Daily Choices (or whatever you named it). This will limit your reading only to posts by those people.
So:
Following a small group of people whose writing I appreciate, and creating a List of some I do not wish to miss, makes X a transformative platform. It daily offers insights I would not have thought, and contacts I would never have met.
The old wisdom has really not faded at all, even though it is now exchanged at megabits per second: The one who walks with the wise will become wise.
I am by no means an expert on things technological. I would dearly value your contributions.
Let me know in the Comments below what tips you have found useful in navigating X Twitter. When you post your thoughts, hundreds — or thousands — of followers will see them, and some will get big help from your small effort.
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