A couple days ago I deactivated my Twitter (sorry, "X") account with the full intention for it to be deleted completely in 30 days.
I've been on the platform for over 13 years, and after doing mini breaks here and there over that period of time, I finally took the plunge and decided it was time to let it go entirely. I have no regrets or urges to go back.
Initially it felt a bit daunting because I use Twitter for news, current events, the occasional hottest meme that's trending, and getting informed about the latest things in the tech and the design space. It was like being pulled out of the loop was a negative thing.
Be out of the loop.
Why do we feel like being out of the loop is a bad thing? What am I really going to miss from doom scrolling on Twitter? Did I really benefit anything from being so ingrained about everything going on in the world? No.
Instead, I've been spending my time over at Posts by Read.cv. A platform that aims to "foster connection and growth" for creatives. It feels more niche, but focused on conversation rather than events or engagement bait.
"While Twitter's physical-space metaphor has always been the global town square, a more appropriate metaphor for Posts might be a café in the city center. A space to share and debate ideas big and small, grow and learn with friends old and new, and get a pulse on the city around you." - Posts, About Page
There is no "For You" where the algorithm shoves yet another subscription based design agency and how they made a billion dollars in 2 months. There is no engagement bait with blue checks clogging the top replies of posts. There is no "Design Twitter" where I run into the same type of people just circle jerking the same ideas, opinions, egos, and "hot takes." Personally it was tiresome to read, engage in, and was honestly just not good for my mental health.
The ability to over share doesn't exist.
On Posts, I don't feel inclined to doom scroll. People seem more tame with what they are sharing, because the ability to over share doesn't exist. It's simple, and I like that. There is no ability to make 3 paragraph long posts, or make a 20 post deep thread about something. There is no trends, ads, or hyper invasive algorithm shoving irrelevant things on my timeline just so I can engage with it.
Funny enough, I think the reason why most of everyone I know and followed on Twitter aren't flocking over here is because, well, it's not Twitter. Let me explain.
Validation is the killer of creativity.
As creatives, we sometimes want to feel validated and seen within the communities we're in—even if it's from random people on the internet. We want our work to have this grand purpose to exist and we measure our success in our skills based off engagement. We think the cure to imposter syndrome is to share our work and cross our fingers hoping the right people see it, leave a like, and retweet so that it gains even more traction. When you leave a reply, you hope for a response so you can feel seen.
Twitter caters to this mindset because it puts those numbers front and center for every tweet you put out, and if you want more engagement? You may feel inclined to buy "Premium."
On Posts? None of that matters. Engagement is not what's front and center. It doesn't feed into thinking you need to post everything on your mind, "like" everything you see, or reply to every person you come across. You can't see how many followers someone has, or who or how many people they are following—or their likes. It doesn't matter.
Be proud of your work.
I use Instagram because I think every creative person should have an outlet where they can share their work with others, even if for you that place is Twitter. You should be motivated to share your work because you're proud of it, not for the sake to see how much engagement you get.
"There are no mistakes, no worthless projects, because there will always be people who like it and others who don't. No matter how impeccably you launch a French brand of navy blue swimsuits that are eco-friendly, organic, made in France, and have taken all the right steps, there will always be someone who tells you that you should have made them in red. Let us embrace the art of self-belief." - Margot Lévêque
Instagram being a visual forward platform in both static and dynamic content has personally benefited my creative output when it comes to inspiration, sharing works in progress and one-off projects, and finding new designers and artists. It achieves this all while still having that layer where I can comfortably keep in touch with my family and good friends. It's not perfect, but IMO it's far better than Twitter and the potential echo-chambers you can fall into.
That's another topic for another day though...
I'm staying on Posts...for now.
With all of that being said, I want Posts to succeed. I love the simplicity of it, plus all of the reasons I already shared above. Now of course, the amount of users Posts has dwarfs in comparison to Twitter. I'm sure as more people join, it could start to feel crowded here, but that's fine.
My unsolicited advice to the Read.cv team is to continue to focus on how to make this place more community driven rather than engagement driven. The focus shouldn't be on how many creatives you can pull from Twitter. Instead, it should be on how to make your own thing because the world doesn't need yet another uninspiring Twitter clone to add to the list.
Till next time,
- Pedro
Follow me on: Instagram and Posts
My portfolio: Pedro Peguero Jr.
What I've been listening to: Spotify