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this is one of my core obsessions, let me queue up some old relevant threads about this basically, social media creates tremendous opportunities, but hardly anybody stops to really examine this bc most people operate via old intuitions this is why I tweet like a maniac https://t.co/FCoessWyXk
here's the core thesis, with the analogy being "it took 30 years before Hendrix showed the world what you can really do with the electric guitar". I intend to do this with social media. I don't think anybody is using it properly, pushing it to its limits https://t.co/3M0wpvmfDl
people often see the most lurid, noisy, loud, chaotic parts of social media and think, ugh, social media is a freak show. but that's like thinking New York = Times Square. It's that, but it's also so much more than that. It's literally anything you *want* https://t.co/1GNqgKslrd
just repeating myself again because people's imaginations are tremendously constrained in this domain well, in all domains, but it particularly irks me in this domain, because this is a domain which can expand imaginations in other domains https://t.co/dCV25YMIDc
you can use social media to build scenes. but IMO not a single social media platform really does a good job of encouraging this. maybe twitch is ~decent~ at it. but no platform really cares about glory. they care about profits. but i'm not being gloomy https://t.co/2ozMbWU7mL
because we can basically hack and jailbreak social media platforms to get what we want out of them, by simply refusing to do what they nudge us to do (consume content) and focus on what is powerful and world-changing (build relationships)
ok let's switch gears from talking about platforms themselves, to talking about reply game people think that celebrities, hot girls, etc are overwhelmed with noise this is true they then assume this means you can't get through to them this is false https://t.co/0C3OqYkqUm
you do have to be patient, persistent, sensitive, non-needy, thoughtful, & put in the work, w/ an abundance mindset this disqualifies like 99.9% of people which is why it works I'm one of the best reply guys on the planet, so busy ppl make time for me https://t.co/f98oLfmv5Y
Coffee with @jamesclear + John - speaking engagements, Twitter as a medium, storytelling, being curious nerds, making friends, the limitations and strengths of different mediums and formats, exploring footnotes and obscure PDFs, making decisions when there are infinite options https://t.co/tzMY8LK02C
my heuristic is be consistently the best reply in someone's mentions, about 1x/week, for 3 years they can't help but notice you treat them like you're already peers, and convey that they won't have to worry about you being tedious, annoying, needy, etc https://t.co/iuTTQlteGk
if I see someone I want to be friends with, it's basically inevitable that we will eventually become friends. it might take 5 years, 10, 20 I might have to make friends with their friends first, or the friends of their friends great, that's more fun all around anyway https://t.co/d5ljmYyaah
in fact, in my experience, the busier and more high-status the celebrity, the more alienated and isolated they are, and the more desperate they are to meet someone who will treat them with dignity and respect as a fellow human being, indifferent to status https://t.co/3s2MHVmu6V
if they both had twitter, Alexander would be following Diogenes https://t.co/h0lButBz9v
celebrities are human too celebrities get a lot of attention, but they are seldom Seen, the way they want to be Seen if you wanna study someone who's excellent at seeing celebrities as human, look up Zane Lowe he makes them cry, which they don't expect https://t.co/fQjJtWwP7N
let's switch from talking about platforms and celebrities to talking about THOUGHTS. specific, individual thoughts. as a thought experiment (ha), pretend that human identities don't matter at all, and that the world simply consists of networked thoughts https://t.co/k1YJlUyjWt
Most casual players do not appear to have caught on to the true potential utility of Twitter, or perhaps they are indifferent to it. A web of tweets is a living entity that allows players to meet, interact and engage with 1000s of others *at the level of individual thoughts*.
if you examine the behavior of thoughts and ideas while ignoring the human hosts, you'll notice that they have their own logic about them. thoughts want to hang out with other thoughts. if you understand this well, you can get through to almost anyone https://t.co/zOu5v9vYCL
Now that more of us are playing the threading game: As we compete+collaborate effectively articulate things we all care about, And weave each other’s thoughts into our respective webs, The desire paths will assemble a mindcity paved with the best individual thoughts
this is true even within an individual person, an individual brain. (assuming individuals exist.) part of how you get to connect with the light in other people is that you first have to connect with the light within yourself https://t.co/vOn6IXVzHA
the thing I love about a good idea is that, when it makes it into your brain, all the other ideas, as well as a large set of memories, all get excited and rush over to meet it, and there's this big huddle and everyone starts re-examining themselves & reconsidering their existence https://t.co/9nohHMHwHR
this is why the 1st domino is "love + curiosity". without it, there is no light, and the whole thing becomes craven, mechanical. yes, in talking about connecting with celebrities & hacking social media platforms I am talking abt learning to love yourself https://t.co/QCM7vrkuBW
a lot of people use twitter assuming that nobody cares, etc. there's a self-fulfilling prophecy here. if you conduct yourself like you don't expect to be engaged with, people who might otherwise be open engaging with you, won't https://t.co/tJLz1dTdzV
this isn't a widespread norm. a lot of people, for example, quote tweet bad things, because they don't feel like they are personally responsible for bad norms. they see themselves as small, weak, powerless, insignificant. I see myself as large, strong, powerful, significant
a bunch of people struggle with navigating this because it violates certain assumptions about social norms and a meta-assumption is, only bad people violate social norms this is also false good people can violate social norms too, and use it for good not all norms are good
But if you're going to violate norms, you do have to think for yourself, be responsible, deal with the consequences, and endure some amount of being misunderstood and maligned. This is hard, and scary, and uncomfortable. Which is why we don't have more good people doing it. Yet.
20 tweets in but I still have several other angles I can present here.😅 Here's one: social media, and publishing in general, is an engine of luck-creation. Montaigne said sth similar about writing 500 years ago. It's even more true now IMO https://t.co/OqmTWqfQrU
here is a bit of my summary of @pmarca's 2007 blogpost about James Austin's 4 kinds of luck, from his 1978 book Chase, Chance and Creativity 1. blind luck 2. add variability through tinkering 3. add discernment 3. add unique frame of reference https://t.co/VC2iCbu8kk
Jane Jacobs argued compellingly, and I agree, that economic wealth is created through import replacement and trade I believe this applies to ideas, too. which is to say, if you trade and remix ideas, they become more valuable, which invites attention https://t.co/bZjqaPExpG
Idk if Rosenfelder is quoting Jacobs directly when he says "This is how every developed nation started [...] there is no other way." no. other. way. *everything* is a remix remixers accumulate knowledge and power you get to originality by first being derivative No Other Way https://t.co/QOYeAunyaa
my history reading is still at an amateur level, but my sense is that if you look for any great human accomplishment, you'll typically find a handful of people working together in a scene. and social media has made it possible to find scenemates worldwide https://t.co/J0GWGcDiNW
one of my recurring talking points to anybody who's willing to listen: any small group of people loosely-but-truly aligned on something can create powerful vectors by producing public-facing work that's directed at each other talking about the creation of scenes, basically
TLDR: real social media has not yet been tried. the media part has been moderately solved. kinda. meh. 2/5 stars. we can do better. the social part is worse, 1/5 stars. Exciting: *tremendous* room for growth. We are still in the early days https://t.co/CkQXnC15hi
sometimes vibe is hard to convey via text, so here's an accompanying video (check out my youtube channel! I'd love it if you subscribed!) https://t.co/HOJ8540cFG https://t.co/CvbhDXv1ed
@visakanv what about 10 star social media? https://t.co/bHC68QNFhl
@visakanv cc @ricvolpe ^ since you ideated about this https://t.co/FZSLWPvNVd
@visakanv @ricvolpe I keep thinking of this video as one pointer towards that space. https://t.co/kO2fA4fY6B
@visakanv relevant: https://t.co/jnizubNUWN
@visakanv https://t.co/s8a99wi4Ox
@sergeykarayev nope I just search https://t.co/9oY3HEZbhG
@visakanv this thread is some of your best work so far https://t.co/QruDhjqnzC
@visakanv It's Saturday afternoon in my little Covid bubble and I'm going to smoke a J and do a slow grind mulling my way through this thread. The greatest Twitter artist I know of. ... which makes me curious, who's the greatest Twitter artist/artiste *you* know of, Visa?!
@visakanv Great thread! Just went down your whole meta-thread rabbit hole linked from this thread. Thank you for thinking in public for years! Lots of great ideas, especially pointing at the potential for twitter or a better social media to enable scenes and scenius. I'm on board 🙂