Twitter’s length limit is deceptive. At a glance, it suggests that writing tweets should be easy and quick. This is true for superficial tweets, but does not mean all tweets are written quickly and with little effort.
Twitter is actually a platform for concise writing, and writing concisely is harder than writing verbosely. There are certain tweets I spend a lot of time on and it’s shame to have them get lost in my feed. So I’m storing them here.
The best growth tactics are the ones no one else is doing.
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) December 28, 2020
Rather than searching for gaps in your community, look for what's popular in others. If it's not common in yours, congrats – you've just found a "novel" growth tactic.
Remixing is easier than writing from scratch.
Knowing where to strategically cut corners is a critical skill in early product development. Some call this being "scrappy".
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) December 21, 2020
Here's the experience from building @timestamps_app that taught me this. It's one of my fondest memories as an indie hacker:
cc @IndieHackers
I've tweeted about the importance of copywriting & making blog posts skimmable, but I haven't touched on writing itself.
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) December 14, 2020
Here are my tips for blog post writing: pic.twitter.com/VkBvagThRb
Another blogging mistake I see is neglecting the "skimmers".
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) December 10, 2020
Most people that land on your blog will not read– they'll skim. They may share your content if they can get value with as little energy expended as possible, so it's worth putting in effort to cater to them.
An easy win for aspiring tech bloggers: Have cover art. 🖼
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) December 8, 2020
Music makers have long known the value in visual art for grabbing attention. But so many bloggers neglect this, making it an easy way to stand out.
Combine with my previous tip for max effect👇https://t.co/GsFufByvD5
I've had the misfortune of reading the Linux kernel for fun (& profit) since 2014, and a friend asked if I had tips for doing so. Here's what I told him:
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) December 7, 2020
I don't know who needs to hear this, but it's easier to find public speaking opportunities than you think. Between conferences and meetups of all sizes, there are many events practically begging for speakers.
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) November 25, 2020
My ADC abstract was voted top 5 which qualified it for the public livestream, and it's because of this.
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) November 24, 2020
Don't tell anyone, but in this situation, the quality of the (copy)writing in your title/abstract/bio is just as important as your actual content (for better or worse). ✍ https://t.co/3Q6M554Ecf
I wrote up a few tips for effective technical presentations based on my experience giving several talks per year at conferences & meetups since 2016:
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) November 23, 2020
I wish someone had told me earlier how powerful conferences can be if you proactively reach out to people you want to meet. And that most of the value comes from networking & human interaction, not the talks.
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) November 17, 2020
When you evaluate paying for a service, you probably evaluate in terms of how much your time is worth. But do you factor in the savings in mental & physical "bandwidth"? These are valuable, finite resources too, but how do you price them? 🤔
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) November 15, 2020
I've been avidly self-studying copywriting lately. I think it's the single most misunderstood & underrated skill one can pick up, especially for programmers. Here's why:
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) November 10, 2020
TIL after you leave a company & delete the company email from your account, you can still get credit on github for commits you made with that company email. Just add the email and don't verify it. pic.twitter.com/WwM7q0ntHA
— Mark Mossberg (@offlinemark) November 9, 2020