Twitter is a network of free floating ideas, opinions and data from agents (persons and institutions). It has the following properties:
- It has several agents of information in the form of individuals and organisations. Each agent or Twitter account represents a node of the network. These nodes are connected freely and information flows through them freely. The strength of a node is determined by the number of connections coming into the node.
- The agents from various domains like fitness, fashion, investing, politics, entertainment, sports etc co-exist in this ecosystem.
- The nodes with largest number of followers are strong nodes.
- The strength of the node is largely a factor of the quality of the content posted and the time of its existence.
- It is a reasonably self organised network. While the Twitter company does control it and in turn works under the jurisdictions of various governments, it’s algorithm is structured such that it is largely self organised. Hence, the agents, which provide quality content and have persisted for long period of time, evolve into strong nodes.
Using Twitter for explosive gains in your knowledge & wisdom
Twitter network is a form of leverage. I say this, because you can use this to gain vast amounts of knowledge & wisdom from disproportionately small efforts. It is a tool that serves knowledge on a platter. However, like any leverage, it is a double edged sword. It is extremely risky if the leverage is not used intelligently. Most end up using it in a very ineffective way. Hence, before we figure out how to use its leverage to our benefit, let’s first see what are the pitfalls.
Pitfalls of using Twitter
- Echo Chamber Effects – We have a natural proclivity to form a connection with like minded people. You’re a vegetarian, you start following someone who prescribes vegetarian food. You are a right winger, you start following right wingies. You’re an atheist, you start following atheists. So on & so forth. The more you hear people who say what you already believe, the more blinkered you get in your vision. This prevents you from acknowledging contradictory evidence and keeps you rooted to your self imposed dogma.
- Arguments – In the real world, we live a life full of constraints. Twitter gives us a platform with an unbridled freedom to express our opinions. On top of this, it gives us an unlimited access to Who’s Who of the world. This unbridled freedom gives us a license to shoot from the hip and aim at anyone we feel like! In the real world, I may be the weakest milquetoast, but on Twitter, I can take on the U.S. President, the strongest person on Earth, and tell him/her that he/she is weak! With Twitter, you come face to face with anyone and express your opinion – crib, complain, make fun of! When you argue with them, you show total disregard to their toil and achievements and take specious pride in being at superficial par with them. The fact that you have wasted your time & energy is a smaller problem. The bigger problem is that learning and arguing rest at opposite poles. Your mind can be in either argumentative mode or learning mode. These modes are also called Rage Circuit and Seeking circuits with reference to cats. When a cat is taking on a dog, the rage circuit is on. The antithesis of that is the seeking circuit, when it is stalking a pigeon. Ask yourself,
When you come face to face with a genuine achiever, should you prefer to switch on the rage circuit and argue – throw a bucket full of muck on him, or should you rather switch on the seeking circuit and learn – carry an empty and bring back a bucketful of wisdom home!
If you’re interested in getting wiser, you’ll rather switch on the seeking circuit. On that note, we segue into the main part…
What is an efficient Twitter Network that provides explosive gains in knowledge & wisdom
Twitter is a form of leverage. In the previous section, we looked at the pitfalls of this double edged sword. this section, we look at the supernormal gains it can provide. Twitter can give you access to the best of the best. These people have spent their lifetime figuring out something. I have noticed that those who have reached the top, often send the elevator back. They are often keep to help others by sharing their knowledge & wisdom. They often serve their words of wisdom on a platter and serve it to you on Twitter.
So, connections help. All it matters is to connect with as many people as possible and clutter your timeline with data, right? Well, not quite. There is a more efficient way, I think. Here’s what I propose:
The Efficient Twitter Network
Your network needs to have two kinds of connections:
- Bonding – Your starting point is obviously people and institutions belonging to your domain or liking. If you
- like cooking, you start following some famous Chefs and connoisseurs of food
- want to learn about investing, you start following successful investors
- are interested in improving your fitness, you start following some Fitness Trainers
- are stressed or depressed, you follow some life coaches
You build connections with like minded people of your choice. Let’s call this Bonding. Theis Bonding helps you learn your thing from the experts in that field.
- Bridging – To get worldly wisdom, you need to expand your horizon way beyond your domain. You need to move beyond your Bonding Zone and get
- Opposite perspective in your chosen field – This pulls you out from your echo chamber. You get to remove your blinkers and see the world better.
- Different perspective from different fields – This helps to broaden your perspective. This improves your mindware, makes you wiser.
How to build an efficient Twitter Network that provides explosive gains in knowledge & wisdom
Build a network of Bonds and Bridges:
- Bonding with a few like minded experts in your chosen field from whom your learn your art
- Bridging with the top proponents of thinking contrary to your echo chamber or beyond the scope of your field. In the Network Terminology, these proponents are called Hubs.
Too few connections in your Bonding zone, and you don’t learn enough…too many connections in the Bonding zone, and you risk getting into a filter bubble (a state of intellectual isolation) and your development gets crushed by Groupthink. Keep an optimal number of connections in the bonding zone at core and small number of Bridges across to Hubs in other domains. This provides a great ability to your Twitter Network, called “The Small World Property”. This basically means that these Hubs will filter and bring to you the best of their fields and you don’t have to break much sweat.
For example,
If you want to learn Value Investing:
Bonding – You connect with some of the best value investors, value investing coaches, and authors. Follow them, read what they write, watch their videos.
Bridging – Build some Nodal Connections with the best proponents of other fields of investing like Growth Investing, Macro Investing, Trend Followers. See what brings success to them. Is there any overlap between these and value investing. Try and get a holistic picture of how investing and stock markets work. Also, connect with leading authorities of other fields like economics, psychology, sociology, physics, health, fitness, risk management, evolution etc
Over a period of time, you’ll start seeing the linkages, build a strong mindware and evolve into a much wiser person.