Dominic Wellington’s Post

Man, if you'd told me one year ago that I'd take LinkedIn seriously today... I'd have laughed it off, saying, "No chance, dude. LinkedIn's not my scene. I'm all about Twitter – that's where MY people hang out." But you know what? Things change. First off, let's talk about the Twitter algorithm. It's not exactly the powerhouse it used to be. Reach is down, and building an audience feels like pushing a boulder uphill. Twitter's still cool, but it's going through a bit of a rough patch. Then there's LinkedIn... It's going through a transformation. It's no longer just a digital resume dump. It's become a hub for creators. It's where ideas strike. Conversations start. And connections spark. Who would've thought? But hey, you need to stay open-minded. Don't tie yourself down to one platform. Go where you can get the most bang for your buck – in terms of time, money, and energy. That's what I'm doing. I'll tell you, logging into LinkedIn these days feels like stepping into a gold rush. There's opportunity everywhere you look. I'm genuinely happy I decided to give it another shot. So, how about you? How long have you been playing the LinkedIn game? And what finally convinced you to take the plunge? Thanks for taking the time to read this. Enjoyed this post? Drop me a follow — Mike Bolton Share it with your network if you can relate. Much appreciated.

Sixteen years. So many great memories. Great example of early co-design and what was possible if you listened to user feedback. A deep, deep love for a marvellous and important product. There are some who may think it is 'cringe' - as the kids say today - to be sad. But it is okay to be sad when you have invested time, and emotions and have happy memories attached to something. So many take tech for granted. They don't see invisible labour, the tireless work to remove friction, the tape and glue that keeps servers up, the content moderators' trauma, the vision that we all had for a product like Twitter. I've been rough on tech bros lately, but that comes from a place of disappointment at having seen what was done to these platforms, and what they were supposed to be. Maybe I was the gullible one for believing in it in the first place, but there was a window there where things were truly... incredible. Lifelong friendships. So many laughs. So many people who met husbands and wives and whose children grew up alongside each other and never got to meet, making us act like a weird aunty to a very confused kid who thinks "do I know you?". I've even been the main character - zero stars would not recommend - but still, marvellous for this Perth girl who never fit in anywhere and would have gone insane if not for other weirdos on the virtual watercooler that was Twitter. Then, selfish people - first, media and 'brand' people (who Twitter was supposed to disrupt) staged a hostile takeover, thinking the Internet was theirs to gentrify and control, were then overtaken by the jerks who think the internet is theirs to wreck, and users for them to harass. Twitter was a deep love that turned abusive, where I then convinced myself it could change, if I just kept trying. I even tried to work there so I could help fix things. I wrote a proposal on how to change the product and processes to solve the problems. That went as far as their support tickets: nowhere. Sunk costs and habit. That’s what remains. And the handful of people who are still on there that I don’t want to lose touch with, so I will not completely delete, and still copypasta (I still want it to get better, but not at my expense). But no more than 5 minutes a day. 𝕏 in 2024 is a reality-distorting, crazy-making, deeply unhealthy and abusive app. I won’t let Elon Musk drag me down with him in his descent into madness. Get some therapy, for heaven’s sake. He's a grown man. It’s just ...sad. Anyway, it’s been a long road. I’m allowed to be sad over what happened to the crazy dream that was the bird app. It's okay if you don't get that. It represents a dream that was unrealised, in many ways. I invested a lot into it. I got celebrities on it early on. I evangelised it to everyone who would listen. And it’s done. It may change, but I doubt it. I suggest you do the same. If they’ve lost me, a Twitter addict who rationalises like a smackhead over it… they’ve literally lost everyone.

Twitter and LinkedIn are like polar opposite siblings. Most professionals I know use both, but checking each of them throughout the day can give you whiplash. Twitter incentivizes fiery, unfiltered versions of people. Arguing, venting, bullying, joking. LinkedIn, on the other hand, incentivizes icy, calculated versions of people. Self-help tips, success stories, soliciting, mechanical high fives. The best posters on Twitter uninhibitedly fire off their stream of consciousness all day, while the best ones on LinkedIn optimize every word to sound as effective and inoffensive as possible. Even the edgiest LinkedIn posts are hedged so they don't burn professional bridges, AKA, future job opportunities. In recent years, these worlds have collided as Twitter posters have come to LinkedIn and vice versa. But the cultures haven't changed much. At their worst, Twitter is still miserable and LinkedIn is still cringe. Yet most of us still utilize them both for news, networking, and entertainment, because these are the places where pros come to play. I have no key takeaway or insight here. I just wanted an excuse to use the Heat Miser in a meme. Peace and love to youse!

🎉 Happy 18th Birthday, Twitter! 🎂 #Twitter18 Today marks 18 years since Twitter first fluttered into our digital world, transforming how we connect, share, and engage with the world in 280 characters or less. From hashtags to viral moments, Twitter has been at the heart of digital culture, fostering global conversations and bringing communities together. 🐦💬 As we celebrate this milestone, we also reflect on the recent transitions and challenges faced since the platform's rebranding to "X". The journey has been complex, with many expressing concerns about the platform's direction and future vitality. In my opinion, the situation with X is approaching a critical point, if it hasn't already reached that point. It's a pivotal time for both the community and creators to decide what comes next. To be honest, I have lost my interest in it. It's interesting to reflect how fast companies and concepts can grow these days, and how quickly they can break down. It's particularly relevant to consider this as X celebrates its 18th birthday." Yet, the spirit of Twitter – the lively debates, the shared triumphs and struggles, the daily dose of news and laughter – remains alive in our memories and online interactions. As we look towards the future, let's honor that legacy by continuing to foster dialogue, advocate for meaningful change, and build the kind of digital spaces we want to be part of. 🌍🕊️ Here's to the memories made and those yet to be created. What has been your pivotal Twitter or "X" moment? Let's discuss the past, present, and future of our digital town square. #HappyBirthdayTwitter #TwitterAnniversary #18YearsOfTweets #TheFutureOfX

When's the last time Twitter actually produced a lead for you? You can't dabble in a tactic and expect results. Go all in. Or get out. I'm not sure where this mentality came from where we need to be EVERYWHERE and try to do EVERYTHING. Unless you're a Fortune 100 company, it's just not possible. Not enough budget. Not enough resources. Not enough manpower. Instead of giving 20% to 20 ideas. Give 100% to 5 of them. Develop a strategy. Come up with tactics. Choose your channels. Everything else.... stop. Stop wasting time. Stop wasting money. It's okay to do less. Especially since you'll probably get more out of it.

As one of the first half-million people to sign up on day one (I guess you could call that early adoption?) and as it celebrates a year today, I’ve been casting a critical eye over Threads this week. Let's be real - it’s not the great Twitter killer many hoped it would be, including me. But many users have realised it didn’t need to be a replacement, just a viable alternative. So, is it a viable alternative? Well, that depends on what you’re after. Usage and growth have been a slow burn. The initial meteoric sign-up rate was tempered by the slow rollout of features and many people trying to understand what works. My initial usage was sporadic, but now it has become a daily habit, much like Twitter was. I always used Twitter as a mix of work and play. I tried that approach with Threads, but it didn’t fly. Possibly because of audience size and discovery, or because it is just not the place for it. So I leaned into the personal much more, and it seems to work. When you hit a chord, it takes off, and replies do very well engagement-wise, being fed into discovery and not just the original post. There are engagement bait posts of “Does anyone actually use this?”, but we seem to have largely avoided the broetry of LinkedIn and the snark of Twitter, which is a positive. Some things really don’t work well. Search is hard. There are no DMs. The video experience is not awesome. Discoverability is still serendipitous at best. Hashtags/topics haven’t really landed the way many had hoped, paving the way for me to finally break my MAFS commentary addiction... The lack of reverse chronology in the For You tab is infuriating, as is seeing your own content in there. It does have a content theft problem - many people copy/paste others' content without credit and take the opportunity to bring over Twitter content and claim it as their own. Despite Adam Mosseri’s insistence on it not being a place for news, it is there but harder to find than it should be (political content is an opt-in). Particularly at the moment, this is a source of frustration for users as we enter what is probably the most consequential 6-months ever on a global level. The one thing I thought would truly be the nail in the coffin of X would be the API allowing people to push content from browser extensions to grow sharing. But after it launched a few weeks ago, I’m not sure it is anymore. There is much more commentary than links being shared. To all of these things, Meta, and Mosseri are sticking to their plan in terms of rolling it out with little feedback from users taken on board. So to the original question of its viability as an alternative? For me, yes. The frustrations are there, but not consequential enough for me to not use it. It's becoming a habit, which is the key to growing a platform. But everyone’s use case is different. And it may all change when ads get in there and completely change the experience. Any other Threads users? Keen to hear more thoughts.

Arguing is a waste of time. Every time I log onto Twitter, I see people arguing, as if that’s going to change people’s minds. Let’s face it. Twitter is where people go to act like middle schoolers who have no conflict-resolution strategies. If you have a disagreement on something, you’re not going to change somebody’s mind, but you can expand their mind. And once they are exposed to that point of view, they can never forget it. You content should do the same. Expose your readers to something new. Your content should add to the pool of collective knowledge. The same goes for DM’s and discovery calls. Maybe you don’t make the sale, but at least you have exposed your prospect to another option. 👉Civilization moves forward with good ideas, so share them. ✅ Ask questions that haven’t been asked before. ✅Share different points of view. ✅Have nuanced opinions. ✅Have original opinions. ✅Come up with different arguments ✅Introduce big ideas 😡Don’t win arguments, only expand minds 😡Don’t convince people to buy, show them another option 😡Don’t “persuade” people, expose them to different arguments 😡Don’t make the sale that day, but expose the prospect to a solution 😡Don’t prove you’re right, only make someone start thinking differently As always, like this post, leave a comment below, and follow me. But don’t hit the bell because you don’t need more distractions in your life. As always, like this post, leave a comment, and follow me. Don't hit the notification bell because you don't need the distraction.

LinkedIn is the only place to be, it is 5🌟."LinkedIn was once a mess of self-righteous business-speak, but its convergence with Twitter has made it the obvious replacement for the Musk-run app. We can pretend it’s too lame for our social media purposes or embrace the inevitable: All communication is professional and LinkedIn is all that we deserve." I couldn't agree more. And you? Annie --- Since Elon Musk bought Twitter just over a year ago, there’s been an on-and-off scramble, among those who love Twitter but not its new owner, to find refuge elsewhere. As a Twitter devotee myself, I’ve reconnected with internet friends and professional acquaintances on platforms like Bluesky, Mastodon, and Meta’s alternative, Threads. I’ve seen others try out Post and Hive and Spoutible. One of my favorite lookalikes, a platform called Pebble, shut down earlier this month. The result of this proliferation of Twitter-like platforms has been a disaggregation of my Twitter network. Some users have fled the social network now called X for a single alternative, while others have spread their posts across various platforms, while others have experimented elsewhere but haven’t been able to shake their Twitter habit—damning themselves to toil away on a platform they love to despise. I’m in the latter camp, and I probably will be until X shuts down, requires me to pay to post at all, or becomes perverted beyond repair. (That last one being subjective, obviously. Plenty of erstwhile Twitter users have already decided it’s reached that threshold. After a year of wandering through the digital desert in search of a new home for my thoughts and whims, I have begun to think that there’s only one acceptable replacement for Twitter. I’m not the only one. It’s LinkedIn. ...READ More... AnnieRoseInc.com - ➡️Please DM for more information. -"LinkedIn 110% Done For You"- LinkedIn Lawyer & Law Firm Marketing & Management #linkedin #twitter #meta #linkedinmarketing #lawyers #lawfirms Hon.

Leaving Twitter was humbling. Twitter is basically why I have the career I have today. I was an early adopter and used it many times over the years to break stories, launch innovative campaigns, and post incredible moments. I can honestly say most of my modern friendships derive from Twitter. In Calgary, people would literally address me by my Twitter handle. So, as the site got worse and worse under Musk's leadership, I struggled because that was my livelihood, that's where people knew me from, and for a Canadian who didn't technically work in the media, I had a pretty substantial audience. But just over two months ago, I posted on Twitter/X that I was done with the site; it had become a shittier place and, lord knows, the internet doesn't need more shitty places. I tossed and turned for weeks over what it would mean to lose that audience. In these times, it can feel like the only thing that matters is your personal brand and the size of your audience. But with one single post, I walked away from it all. And now, it turns out...no one cares. The tweet announcing my departure is probably my least engaged tweet in years. And in the weeks following, I'd pop in to see if anyone was asking where I was. I searched my username over and over, and nope, no one cares. Ouch? Or relief? I think relief. As millennials, we're likely the first real adapters of social media being tied to our identity, whether that's true or not, I think, is the lesson here. My value, my worth, my intelligence, my success is not, and will not, be decided by a singular company that gets to hold that over my head. That was the mistake I was making. I thought I was important because of Twitter, but Twitter is important because of its users, of which I am no longer one. It's been a big realization over the past couple of weeks that I had found myself in an echo chamber of sorts, that the real world isn't on Twitter, or really any social media platform. The real world is about connections, and the most meaningful connections come from relationships. One company, or many companies, doesn't have control over that. You do. So, to quote a line from my favourite movie: "You have no power over me." Humbled, but grateful to have come to that important realization.

I’m still in Twitter mourning. I know I’m not the only one who not so long ago used Twitter as my primary work and personal online community. I learned from my connections about new resources, discussed professional and personal issues, shared interesting links, and made quite a few lasting friendships. As things have changed over there, many of the people I used to connect with are no longer on Twitter and it’s feeling like a totally different place. But old habits die hard and there are still a good number of people there I like, so I haven’t given it up entirely. (Avoiding the algorithmic “For You” feed makes a huge difference in not being exposed to the negativity.) As each new “Twitter killer” app comes out, I set up an account and try it out for a while, but for all of them, I’d have to start nearly fresh to build the community I had on Twitter. And because people have scattered to so many different places, one platform couldn’t replicate it in any case. I have accounts on Mastodon, Threads, Spoutible, Bluesky, Post, and I’m sure there are more I’m forgetting. I just don’t have the energy to track down the people I want to follow and to post in multiple places. So LinkedIn has become the place I put most of my posting energy because I see the biggest payoff here. But it’s still not the same. And I’m sad about the loss of that once-vibrant community we had. Anyone else feeling the same? Have you found a good alternative? In case you want to connect on any of the other platforms (with the caveat that I’m currently not very active on any of them, but that could change), here’s where to find me: Mastodon - @nedra@mastodon.social Threads - @nedraw@threads.net Bluesky - @nedra.bsky.social (I have an invite code - hit me up in a private message!) Spoutible - @nedra Post - @nedra_ Twitter - @nedra (still happy to connect there!)