Twitter Is the Afterparty

This was a useful post about helping folks making the most of Twitter for their developer career that you might want to check out:

Why and How You Should Use Twitter for Networking

Ashlee Boyer 3 min read

#networking #socialmedia #twitter

Within the discussion, the topic of Twitter's tendency to be the stage for incendiary debates, great political volatility came up. It was a (thankfully) sensible discussion which involved tips for crafting your experience through muting buzzwords etc.

It is an important topic. Twitter is a window into the world which can be conducive to creating empathy. It can also make us hardened and cynical. It is not necessarily great for our mental health if consumed in large doses.

This is a topic I have thought a lot about

Concerns about Twitter not necessarily being the best place to for us to be spending so much of our time actually hits at the heart of DEV's place in the ecosystem. So here was my comment, which I felt might be interesting to share more broadly.

Ben Halpern

Jun 7

I agree with the shape of this conversation from both ends and think about it this way: Twitter doesn't need to change necessarily (in this way) because it is a place where real world issues get discussed and debated, but we could all stand to do fewer overall things on Twitter.

I don't think it's necessarily conducive for good discussions or is a safe space as far as the web goes.

Feeling like Twitter was over-used for too many situations helped lead me to create the DEV platform in the first place. The metaphor I have settled on is that DEV is the conference and Twitter is the after party. There's a value to the after party, but if we were all partying 24/7 we'd all end up burnt out and angry.

These platforms are not neutral vessels for conversation. All the details on how they are crafted, maintained and moderated matter. We, the software industry, wrongly tend to use Twitter as a hammer which makes every industry conversation look like a nail.

For whatever reason, I've felt particularly inspired this week to chat about the ecosystem and where our platform fits in. Related to this conversation is a post I made earlier this week about Medium:

Medium Was Never Meant to Be a Part of the Developer Ecosystem

Ben Halpern 5 min read

#meta

I am also reminded of this post, which brings some interesting perspective from someone who felt like opting out of Twitter altogether, more from the perspective of personal productivity:

Leaving Twitter and Linkedin

Damien Cosset 0 min read

#career #sanity #healthydebate

If Twitter is in fact "the afterparty", it seems sensible that some would find benefit in opting out entirely for purposes of their productivity and growth.

These platforms are as addictive as they are useful. Moderating our use is easier said than done. Perhaps the metaphor I laid out will help you craft a more fulfilling digital experience.

Happy coding.