Lessons Learned On The Way To Reaching 10,000 Twitter Followers

**Note to whoever followed me first: it is now 7 years later, and Twitter effectively functions as the propaganda arm of the executive branch of the US government. Bet you didn’t predict that?**

1. Be kind, always, or you will regret it later.
2. Arguing on Twitter is like dancing with ghosts. Like shadowboxing with a mirror.
3. You tweeted about “x”, but I chose to make it about “y”. You can complain about that, and tell me that is faulty logic, but that’s Twitter’s business model.
4. Follow interesting people. Unfollow them when you get bored. You could complain but it ain’t called the “attention economy” for nothing.
5. Try and say interesting things, but don’t chase “likes”.
6. Your best tweets, and funniest tweets, are all in your head.
7. When you start thinking in terms of how you will tweet about things that just happened to you. (e.g., you start *thinking in tweets*), it’s time to get off Twitter.
8. Hate reading is bad for your health. Don’t do it.
9. Be kind and say interesting things. How hard is that? (Plenty, apparently, although we can learn lots about being our *best selves* from time spent on social media).