social media use really calls for something closer to a driver's license than terms of service... most apparent bad behavior here is more incompetence than malice, like not knowing how to change lanes or take turns at a 4-way stop..
Road test would actually expose you to routine provocations. Like, "make a left turn" = "deal with this concern troll"
each medium would be a vehicle class... twitter is basic cars, FB is semi trucks, whatsapp is motorcycles in the 3rd world without helmets
Having a big following/reach and being a good social media driver are entirely different things.
More from Venkatesh Rao
Heh, one thing the nyt piece managed was to do a Cunningham's law nerdsnipe-wmd at newspaper scale... now a bunch of people are energetically trying to post the right answer.
IMO trying to correct whatever the NYT writer thought he knew/understood is futile. "Willing to be misunderstood by the NYT" should be the default stance unless you want to waste a lot of time correcting an obsolete 2013 map for people who don't care.
The thing is, the NYT still has enough normative cultural power, even as it has fallen from newspaper-of-record, that it takes a particular sort of heretical self-confidence to sort of ignore whatever they happen to be wrong about on any given week, whether or not it concerns you
A subtle shift has occurred in the workings of the Gell-Mann amnesia effect. It used to be an individual private amnesia re: media ("I'll believe myself when I am certain they got it wrong because I'm an expert, but still believe them when I am not"). Now it's a collective effect
A sort of common-knowledge threshold has been crossed lately. "Everybody knows that everybody knows the NYT is wrong on X across largish subcultures." It's no longer mutual beliefs being validated occasionally 1:1.
One other thing I should really clarify and that the @nytimes piece got *severely* wrong: while I believe there are very strong sociological and even causal links between rationalism and NRx (especially in the Silicon Valley homes bases) their ideological and methodological
— (((E. Glen Weyl))) (@glenweyl) February 14, 2021
IMO trying to correct whatever the NYT writer thought he knew/understood is futile. "Willing to be misunderstood by the NYT" should be the default stance unless you want to waste a lot of time correcting an obsolete 2013 map for people who don't care.
The thing is, the NYT still has enough normative cultural power, even as it has fallen from newspaper-of-record, that it takes a particular sort of heretical self-confidence to sort of ignore whatever they happen to be wrong about on any given week, whether or not it concerns you
A subtle shift has occurred in the workings of the Gell-Mann amnesia effect. It used to be an individual private amnesia re: media ("I'll believe myself when I am certain they got it wrong because I'm an expert, but still believe them when I am not"). Now it's a collective effect
A sort of common-knowledge threshold has been crossed lately. "Everybody knows that everybody knows the NYT is wrong on X across largish subcultures." It's no longer mutual beliefs being validated occasionally 1:1.
Both this thread and the outraged response threads are... something.
This is why I never wanted kids. Way too much responsibility for another human’s development. Depending on the child, this might either be the day they discovered who they were or the day that traumatized them into a lifelong fuckup. Either way I don’t want to direct the show.
As far as the can opener goes, it wouldn’t even occur to me to try and turn it into a teachable moment. That sounds vaguely quixotic. I’d just show them how immediately. I think my default is to try and instruct clearly but not demonstrate unless the person is truly disoriented.
I think there’s basically a right answer here: show the kid. If the kid has the aptitude they’ll enjoy the mechanism so much they’ll develop the figure-it-out skill with other devices. If not, it’s a training data point that will build remedial levels of intuition more slowly.
I think perseverance is both misframed and over-rated as a virtue. Misframed as in: everybody has potential for it in some areas and lacks it in others. Aptitude is those areas where perseverance comes easily to you. Meta-skill of knowing where/why you persist is more important.
So, yesterday my daughter (9) was hungry and I was doing a jigsaw puzzle so I said over my shoulder \u201cmake some baked beans.\u201d She said, \u201cHow?\u201d like all kids do when they want YOU to do it, so I said, \u201cOpen a can and put it in pot.\u201d She brought me the can and said \u201cOpen it how?\u201d
— john roderick (@johnroderick) January 2, 2021
This is why I never wanted kids. Way too much responsibility for another human’s development. Depending on the child, this might either be the day they discovered who they were or the day that traumatized them into a lifelong fuckup. Either way I don’t want to direct the show.
As far as the can opener goes, it wouldn’t even occur to me to try and turn it into a teachable moment. That sounds vaguely quixotic. I’d just show them how immediately. I think my default is to try and instruct clearly but not demonstrate unless the person is truly disoriented.
I think there’s basically a right answer here: show the kid. If the kid has the aptitude they’ll enjoy the mechanism so much they’ll develop the figure-it-out skill with other devices. If not, it’s a training data point that will build remedial levels of intuition more slowly.
I think perseverance is both misframed and over-rated as a virtue. Misframed as in: everybody has potential for it in some areas and lacks it in others. Aptitude is those areas where perseverance comes easily to you. Meta-skill of knowing where/why you persist is more important.
I’m guessing these responses really reflect people’s weighted averages (age*current average effort fraction) though I kept it simple and asked for just averages.
I suspect a healthy weighted average should be ~ (age-20)/2. So a 30 year old should be at 5, a 40 year old at 10, a 50 year old at 15 etc.
Standard deviation should be ~average/3 maybe, so distribution spreads as you age and accumulate projects and get better at them.
Other things being equal, people get good at starting in their 20s, at follow through in 30s, at finishing in 40s.
No point learning food follow through until you’ve found a few good starts to bet on. No point getting good at finishing until a few projects have aged gracefully.
I’m in the 7+ range myself. Probably 8-9. Slightly less than healthy for my age.
I suspect most self-judgments on being good starters/follow-through-ers/finishers are really flawed because of the non-ergodicity of project management skill learning. You can’t learn good practices for the 3 phases in an arbitrary order. On,y one order actually works.
Poll: where is the temporal center of gravity of all your live projects based on average age of start-dates?
— Venkatesh Rao (@vgr) January 17, 2021
I suspect a healthy weighted average should be ~ (age-20)/2. So a 30 year old should be at 5, a 40 year old at 10, a 50 year old at 15 etc.
Standard deviation should be ~average/3 maybe, so distribution spreads as you age and accumulate projects and get better at them.
Other things being equal, people get good at starting in their 20s, at follow through in 30s, at finishing in 40s.
No point learning food follow through until you’ve found a few good starts to bet on. No point getting good at finishing until a few projects have aged gracefully.
I’m in the 7+ range myself. Probably 8-9. Slightly less than healthy for my age.
I suspect most self-judgments on being good starters/follow-through-ers/finishers are really flawed because of the non-ergodicity of project management skill learning. You can’t learn good practices for the 3 phases in an arbitrary order. On,y one order actually works.
More from Social media
I wrote 30 Twitter threads in 30 days.
The goal?
Learn how to craft interesting threads, and grow a following. It (mostly) worked.
- New followers: +2.5K (+100% MoM)
- Top thread: 373K impressions
- Top tweet: 2.5K likes
Here's what I learned. Quick thread 👇👇
To start, here's the most popular thread I've written.
Thoughts on what made it work, below.
1. Quality
The threads that performed best were (usually) the ones I put the most effort into.
One example is this one about Jeff Bezos's origins. I spent hours researching and drafting it.
It's worth taking the time to craft your
2. Timeliness
Capitalizing on the news can be one way to expand viewership.
When Fornite launched its #FreeFortnite campaign, I wrote this thread.
At the time, it was my 2nd best performing thread. It also introduced me to the lovely
3. Narrative Arc
Have a clear start and end in your mind.
I made this mistake with a few Amazon threads. I thought because my first one worked, I could keep the story going. But they didn't have as clear a narrative arc and were much less popular.
The goal?
Learn how to craft interesting threads, and grow a following. It (mostly) worked.
- New followers: +2.5K (+100% MoM)
- Top thread: 373K impressions
- Top tweet: 2.5K likes
Here's what I learned. Quick thread 👇👇
To start, here's the most popular thread I've written.
Thoughts on what made it work, below.
Nikola Tesla was the greatest inventor of his era. He died penniless and alone, swindled by both Thomas Edison and JP Morgan.
— Mario \U0001f98a (@mariodgabriele) September 2, 2020
A thread \U0001f447\U0001f447\U0001f447 pic.twitter.com/80Gco1e6uq
1. Quality
The threads that performed best were (usually) the ones I put the most effort into.
One example is this one about Jeff Bezos's origins. I spent hours researching and drafting it.
It's worth taking the time to craft your
[Story time]
— Mario \U0001f98a (@mariodgabriele) July 30, 2020
Yesterday, Jeff Bezos testified in front of Congress. It was almost exactly 15 yrs ago that Amazon introduced itself to the world.
We have all heard some version of his story. But in investigating his childhood, I was surprised to find much that has gone unshared. pic.twitter.com/CDaIAA0Fzj
2. Timeliness
Capitalizing on the news can be one way to expand viewership.
When Fornite launched its #FreeFortnite campaign, I wrote this thread.
At the time, it was my 2nd best performing thread. It also introduced me to the lovely
Fortnite is standing up to Google and Apple.
— Mario \U0001f98a (@mariodgabriele) August 13, 2020
They're offering 20% discounts to players that buy digital currency in the app, bypassing the payment systems of Big Tech.
This is a thread about the game's humble beginnings. \U0001f447
(All likes + RTs appreciated! \U0001f64f) pic.twitter.com/Zg5Lr3hDRu
3. Narrative Arc
Have a clear start and end in your mind.
I made this mistake with a few Amazon threads. I thought because my first one worked, I could keep the story going. But they didn't have as clear a narrative arc and were much less popular.
A book about lichen saved Amazon from going out of business.
— Mario \U0001f98a (@mariodgabriele) August 10, 2020
A thread \U0001f447 pic.twitter.com/kgfmBf4Dsj
THREAD ALT-COMM 🔄
I suggest @manyver_se as TW + FB replacement! It has no server, hence no shutdown! Everything reside on your + friends phone/or PC. You do posts as in TW/FB or private DM.
Generate an ID. Then share invite-codes with friends. See> https://t.co/2OMw7e0bUB ++>
Once you installed the app you can start post threads as "public". For the moment they will be stored on your device. Once you have contacts, they will share that. Is like offline blogging! ++>>
The huge advantage; no server can shutdown your communication! Friends share your posts, so it's resilient if not always online. Is an "off-grid" optimal solution. Is a bit tedious to share "invite-codes" but it's worth. Check>
The most obvious way to CONNECT, is to invite each friend with his special [DHL] generated code. https://t.co/ayurByEtmV Can be shared via mail, or any other means. Use a secure mail like @TutanotaTeam or @ProtonMail ++>>
If some group leader wants, he can do a pub-server where only contacts reside. You must get here an invite-code to to access that server. On digital ocean we can employ one:
I suggest @manyver_se as TW + FB replacement! It has no server, hence no shutdown! Everything reside on your + friends phone/or PC. You do posts as in TW/FB or private DM.
Generate an ID. Then share invite-codes with friends. See> https://t.co/2OMw7e0bUB ++>
Once you installed the app you can start post threads as "public". For the moment they will be stored on your device. Once you have contacts, they will share that. Is like offline blogging! ++>>
The huge advantage; no server can shutdown your communication! Friends share your posts, so it's resilient if not always online. Is an "off-grid" optimal solution. Is a bit tedious to share "invite-codes" but it's worth. Check>
The most obvious way to CONNECT, is to invite each friend with his special [DHL] generated code. https://t.co/ayurByEtmV Can be shared via mail, or any other means. Use a secure mail like @TutanotaTeam or @ProtonMail ++>>
If some group leader wants, he can do a pub-server where only contacts reside. You must get here an invite-code to to access that server. On digital ocean we can employ one:
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Five billionaires share their top lessons on startups, life and entrepreneurship (1/10)
I interviewed 5 billionaires this week
— GREG ISENBERG (@gregisenberg) January 23, 2021
I asked them to share their lessons learned on startups, life and entrepreneurship:
Here's what they told me:
10 competitive advantages that will trump talent (2/10)
To outperform, you need serious competitive advantages.
— Sahil Bloom (@SahilBloom) March 20, 2021
But contrary to what you have been told, most of them don't require talent.
10 competitive advantages that you can start developing today:
Some harsh truths you probably don’t want to hear (3/10)
I\u2019ve gotten a lot of bad advice in my career and I see even more of it here on Twitter.
— Nick Huber (@sweatystartup) January 3, 2021
Time for a stiff drink and some truth you probably dont want to hear.
\U0001f447\U0001f447
10 significant lies you’re told about the world (4/10)
THREAD: 10 significant lies you're told about the world.
— Julian Shapiro (@Julian) January 9, 2021
On startups, writing, and your career:
