I’ve given up on tweet threads

The reason might surprise you

A couple of months ago, I informed you that I’d be going ‘hard’ at both LinkedIn and Twitter in a bid to amplify the ‘solopreneur coach’ element of my brand.

I did exactly that; I spent hours batching content, and even invested in some tools for the job (Tweet Hunter and Taplio, specifically).

Engagement began to increase on both platforms, and, despite an initial loss of followers on Twitter, I started to see some positive growth as a result of my offering tips, advice, and insight for people who wanted to follow in my footsteps.

So, why have I now dropped my Twitter strategy like a lead weight?

To put some context around this, I have decided to stick with LinkedIn, although I’m reducing the amount of posting I’m doing on there. Equally, I haven’t dropped Twitter entirely - I’ve simply stopped the solopreneur tweet threads and reverted back to being the guy who talks about tech).

There are two reasons I’ve decided to give the tweet thread thing the boot, and the first is, as you might expect, time (or the lack thereof).

I already publish at least three YouTube videos per week, four blog posts, two newsletters (one video-based, the other - this one - text-based), countless short form videos, and, for the last nine weeks, I’ve been running a cohort-based course, too. Put simply, I’m at capacity - even with external assistance.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been checking off the daily Twitter task without even starting it. As a result, the pipeline of tweet threads I had in the bank dwindled to zero. The advice stopped. The self-appointed solopreneur coach simply started talking about MacBooks once again.

The second reason I stopped publishing tweet threads is because I’m not convinced about their value. I don’t think the lauded tweet thread is quite the thing it used to be, you see. Granted, I didn’t give it anywhere near long enough, but I know how long it takes for consistency to start bearing fruit. Equally, those who do experience hefty engagement and follower growth as a result of tweet threads already have huge audiences - or it’s one of their main jobs each day.

There’s a timely lesson here for anyone who wants to follow in my footsteps, and it’s that, ironically, you don’t have to follow everyone else. If the world is saying Strategy X is the thing you should be doing, that doesn’t mean you should do it - particularly if you have lots of irons in an already belting fire. For those tweet threads to have a meaningful impact on Solo Club, I’d have to go hard at them for at least eighteen months. This is one of those rare occasions where I just couldn’t be bothered to carry on. Worse still, I felt like I was trotting out the same solopreneur advice that’s been said a thousands times.

Be consistent. Find the right toolset. Fail and learn from your mistakes. Work on your morning routine. Be careful with your work-life balance. Etc. Etc. Etc. We’ve all heard that stuff so many times before, and with solopreneurship and content creation such a common career path these days, I feel there are plenty of established experts out there already who have grabbed that slice of attention on Twitter.

I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t build tweet threads into your content strategy, but I am strongly recommending that you drop anything that just doesn’t feel right. There doesn’t even need to be a tangible reason for dropping it; arguably, I didn’t have one for dropping my tweet threads.

It just felt like the right thing to do, and it’s a huge weight off my shoulders.