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Long-time readers of the blog might already know my attitude toward social media. If not, take a look at this article on Facebook, or my thoughts on Instagram. If you want the short version, here it is: I hate them. Now, the fact that I hate social media isn’t useful to anyone of you. But why I hate them might be. Today I want to tell you why writers and Twitter is a bad combination.

Writers and Twitter: My Personal Experience

First of all, a confession. I used to have a Twitter account. No, actually that’s not right. I used to have several Twitter accounts, for various areas of my life. I had a Twitter account for my writing, a different for my coding, a different for my old business, and then a personal one.

A couple of those accounts had grown quite a bit, for the standards of someone who isn’t a marketing professional and has basically zero budget for promotion.

All my accounts were lost in one night.

The details are not important, but I will just say it was no fault of mine. I did not violate any rules (such as mass following or spamming) nor did I attack anyone. However for some reason, all of my accounts were placed in a spam filter, from which I could never escape. Despite my repeated attempts to contact Twitter customer support, the problem was never rectified. All my accounts kept getting locked every few hours. 

Instead of throwing a tantrum, I saw it as an opportunity. The hell with Twitter, I thought, and never looked back. This also helped me realize that Twitter is a very poor platform for anyone dealing with texts.

Why Writers and Twitter Is a Dangerous Combination

There is a specific reason why Twitter reached the level it has. (Some people would throw the word “success” into the mix, but success is a very fluid concept).

The reason is that Twitter became entangled in a specific cultural moment – what Raymond Williams would refer to as a structure of feeling. In particular, Twitter managed to combine two emerging cultural aspects: 1) a fallacious sense of haste and temporal limitation; 2) an impulsive and quasi-obsessive urge for emotional, non-argumentative expression.

The Era of Mediocrity

To put it in simple terms, Twitter understood (and at the same time helped facilitate) the emergence of the era of mediocrity. People nowadays don’t have time for anything; they’re always busy. And so they can’t be bothered to develop an argument, let alone type more than couple of sentences at a time.

Twitter is all about “I feel like this” and that’s it. No room for arguments, extensive discussion, or any depth whatsoever

Writers Beware!

The danger lurking here is evident, if you’re a writer. Writing is about exploring the unseen, expressing the repressed, and showing the invisible. Above all, writing is about creating a better reality.

By being active on Twitter, writers effectively operate in a context that is inherently unsuitable for them.

“Hey, hang on!” someone might say. “These are two different things. You don’t write in Twitter as you do in a novel!”

No, you don’t. And that’s the problem.

Twitter is like writing a novel and publishing it without editing it, and without the possibility to take it back once it reaches the audience.

Writers and Twitter are a Recipe for Disasters of All Kinds

Writers who use Twitter, at best will simply demote their abilities and come off as little more than, well, chirping birds. Lots of noise, little substance.

You’ll try to appear cool and witty with your puns and catchphrases, at the same time squeezing through – in an act of sheer desperation – some links to your works or website.

But there’s worse.

At some point you might participate in a discussion. It might be about politics, social issues, or what not. After all, as a writer you’re good at argumentation, right?

The Nature of Twitter is Inflammatory

Only, as I said, Twitter is not about argumentation but about emotions. And guess what? Emotions tend to flare up. The nature of Twitter is inflammatory, that is, it favors altercation.

If someone took their time to express an opinion that you disagree with, you might end up changing your mind or at least see where they’re coming from. That’s impossible when all you see is a two-sentence tweet basically saying “Fuck off, I’m right!”

Even if you remain outwardly calm, it’s difficult not to participate in such exchanges. I’ve seen it happening. I’ve seen famous authors making an ass of themselves on Twitter because they desperately wanted to pass a message across.

Indeed, the motivation for this article came some time ago when a very, very famous author thought to participate in a social-justice exchange between two groups. The author ended up receiving flak from both sides, coming off as extremely immature in the process.

Pick your battles, they say. And I can guarantee you, Twitter is not a battle a writer can win.