Wouter’s twitter X-peri(ments/ences)

Data Science and Biostatistics department lunch talk

Wouter van Amsterdam

Department of Data Science Methods, Julius Center, University Medical Center Utrecht

2024-03-12

Why (I) use X?

Why (I) use X?

  1. learn
    1. papers
    2. events (AAAI 2019)
    3. discussions of (/ with?) famous researchers
  2. connect
  3. advertise work

Why not use X?

  • twitter is dead, and X is dying
  • distractions
  • politics

X compared to

  • linkedin: fake interactions
  • twitter: too real interactions
  • mastodon: too hacky / nerdy?
  • threads: twitter clone by meta (facebook)
  • bluesky: way to go?

My X-peri(ments/ences)

Twitter history and status

  • joined: Jan 2014
  • 500-ish followers (Maarten has approx. 41400)
  • 500-ish following (this determines your timeline)
  • 15-minutes a day but waning

first tweet that got a like

first ad for own paper on causal ML

first joke (kind-of success)

first tweet that went ‘viral’: recommending a paper

  • 259 retweets
  • 697 likes
  • 126k views
  • 8 new followers
  • respected researcher in field asked if I’m interested in doing a post-doc

first paper run-through tweet

first paper run-through tweet

first paper run-through tweet

first paper run-through tweet

first paper run-through tweet

first paper run-through tweet

  • 35 retweets
  • 86 likes
  • 18k views
  • 0 new followers
  • now 20 citations (5 if not for twitter?)

reactions to paper run-through tweet

reactions to paper run-through tweet

;document.getElementById("tweet-90227").innerHTML = tweet["html"];

favorite tweet (meme)

reactions to meme-tweet

https://x.com/JAASANTINHA/status/1417936729600823300?s=20

biggest own tweet (thesis cover):

  • 93k impressions
  • 673 likes
  • 53 retweets
  • 6 new followers

ask for help-tweet

To tweet or not to tweet?

Use X for

  1. learning
  2. connecting
  3. advertising:
    1. new work
    2. vacancies

I may leave X

not sure where to go