Is there anything worthwhile on Twitter when it comes to Theravada/EBTs

The Watercooler
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Since I’m able to automatically repost the suttas from daily.readingfaithfully.org to a twitter account, I’m trying to reevaluate if there is anything worthwhile on this platform.

So far I haven’t found much. And when I do find someone who seems to be worth following in terms of Dhamma content, suddenly I’m seeing posts from them about their neighbour’s missing dog or some customer service type tweet.

I realize that the community here may not be big Twitter users, but I have seen posts from time to time expressing an interest in Twitter. Any experience anyone would like to share about Twitter an Dhamma learning/propagation is welcome.

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Might as well just put them there.

People might use twitter for mindless catching up, but still some content of dhamma is better than no dhamma. As one moment/ day/ word of dhamma is better than a hundred years without dhamma.

Who knows, maybe the boss of Twitter, Elon Musk might be converted to Buddhism due to this.

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Right. I don’t plan to stop. I guess what I’m really after is finding other successful Theravada/EBT pages so as to mimic their activity, etc. Currently I have all of 15 followers. It seems that without actively trying to spread the word about the account, there is not going to be much value in it.

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Indeed. I’m using my Twitter account to:

a) keep notes on additions to my site separate from the rss feed (which I was doing for a long time anyway, just privately)
b) keep up on the chatter amongst Buddhist Studies academics (as many professors are on Twitter for some reason)
c) complain about things (when I can’t find another way to get customer service) :see_no_evil:

It’s not really worthwhile from a marketing standpoint, as @classical_ideas found out recently

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Any recommendations?

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Stay far away from Twitter.

:rofl:

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I haven’t found - either personally or at organizations where I’ve worked - that Twitter has added value. Tweets scroll off so quickly it doesn’t tend to be a very good place to post information. And it’s interactive nature means you tend to have to hang out on Twitter.

For organizations it really only works if you are large enough to have someone responding real time to tweets and comments.

The individuals I know who seem to like it best get a chance to interact with people they wouldn’t normally get a chance to interact with.

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But for a more helpful (?) answer, here are a handful of Buddhist academics I haven’t unfollowed yet:

Private Accounts:

Honorable mentions:

There’s this recent tweet by a Buddhist PhD student I follow about a neighbor’s fence

Tweet 12 of this thread by a professor publicly shaming YouTube’s Copyright system bears a striking resemblance to one moment in Bhante @sujato 's recent Cli-Fi novel :grimacing:

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Lol I just read that one.

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No.

Twitter is too short for Buddhist content.

You are already leveraging it to its full potential by providing a daily feed of links to suttas/sutta excerpts.

I think that is valuable, as it provides lay people with a reminder of The Dhamma, along with links to take them away from the cesspool that is Twitter.

I still use Twitter as some friends I want to stay in touch with still post there.

I think Twitter is intentionally set up to be divisive.

I removed the app, and I only view it in a desktop browser on a PC with custom filters to remove the sidebar( restraint of the senses :slight_smile: )

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He isn’t the boss yet, the deal is delayed.

I think it is possible he got the attention he wanted, he may get bored, and just go away.

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I’ve tried using Twitter a few different times but it just fractures my attention and ruins my mood. Which is probably its intended effect.

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As a long time denizen of twitter I agree with others here that it tends to fracture attention and maximize outrage.

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