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Loved this with ONE exception: > “Twitter is the most amazing networking and learning network ever built. > For someone whose pursuing their dream job, or cha
by nlh 7y ago
Loved this with ONE exception:
> “Twitter is the most amazing networking and learning network ever built.
> For someone whose pursuing their dream job, or chasing a group of mentors or peers, it’s remarkable. In any given field, 50-80% of the top experts in that field are on Twitter and they’re sharing ideas, and you can connect to them or follow them in your personal feed.
> If you get lucky enough and say something they find interesting, they might follow you, and the reason this becomes super interesting is that unlocks direct message, and now all of a sudden you can communicate directly or electronically with that individual. Very, very powerful.
Man, so many things about the statement make my skin crawl. The idea that you should be "chasing" mentors or peers. The idea that you should be "lucky enough" to say something "they find interesting" and then "they might follow you".
Lucky you, you little worthless common person!
Talk about a subjugating attitude about the world. Bill Gurley seems to be very excited about the idea that people are just hoping and pleading and begging for more powerful people to notice them.
Sorry for the negativity. But this is just such an unproductive attitude and perhaps the cause of a lot of what makes Twitter awful.
EDIT: Let me add a more positive take. I agree with the underlying sentiment here -- that Twitter does provide folks with an opportunity to actually engage with people they might not have otherwise had a chance to engage with previously or in other contexts, and that is truly excellent. I'm just reacting strongly to the way it was presented ("you should be so lucky as to be noticed by someone more powerful than you.").
- sincerely 7y agoI think the point is less that this is an ideal state of affairs and more that this represents a huge opportunity for people who want to learn/network than a pre-twitter world.
- nlh 7y agoTotally. And thank you for saying that. I think there is definitely a positive way of looking at this, I just don't think Bill Gurley captures that potential in his statement. I'll edit my comment.
- kick 7y agoI don't actually think it's better than this was pre-Twitter. In the past, you could find more or less anyone in the phone book. Basically every person who succeeded in tech without family connections pre-1990 got their start by using this (Steve Jobs immediately comes to mind; he home-dialed Bill Hewlett (yes, that Bill Hewlett) as a child, asked for spare parts, and got a job because of it). For a while, you could also do this before people were scared to post their mail addresses on the internet. Have a question for someone? Type USERNAME@DOMAIN.COM into the box, and they'll answer in a few days! That's more or less gone, though. That manipulation is now the standard should be looked on with incredible sadness rather than "Wow, what a huge opportunity!"
- jdsully 7y agoIts really not that hard to find email addresses just using Google. I’ve emailed a number of rich and famous people. Making yourself stand out is quite another matter.
- megablast 7y agoYou don’t have to follow them at all. It for the first time in history, you now have can.
- janderland 7y agoSeems pretty realistic to me. Some people have more influence than others. Connecting with them is partially up to luck. A connection with such a person is a valuable resource.
- nlh 7y agoIs the connection really valuable? I know in a discussion like this it has an abstract perception of value, but I wonder whether one can really assign value to most Twitter-based connections with so-called influencers.
- koheripbal 7y ago"If you say something interesting" isn't about luck - it's about MERIT. If you contribute to the field, you are more likely to be noticed. No family connections, no red tape, no peer reviewed paper - pure immediate merit. It's what a meritocracy would have.
- nlh 7y agoNow that’s more like it! That’s the attitude that I wish the original quote took. It is truly about merit, and Twitter (can be) a way to lower the boundaries.