Expressing Strong Opinions to grow your Twitter following is a bad idea. Here are 6 reasons why.
(Oooh, the irony …..)
To grow your Twitter following, we’re told, you need to express a strong opinion.
True, IF …. you think all followers are created equal, and maximising their number is what matters. Like that idea?
Here’s why Strong Opinions, in my (ahem, humble) opinion, are overrated. A strong opinion means:
1. Your emotions are probably dominating your thinking.
That’s what emotions do.
Good things, emotions. But there’s a reason why angry drivers cause accidents.
2. You haven’t identified your own assumptions.
You have made assumptions.
As a systems engineer, it drove me mad when the assumptions behind a system requirement weren’t stated.
It meant the requirement hadn’t been thought through, and might be flawed.
3. You’re blind to others’ points of view.
Because yours is the only valid one, surely?
4. You aren’t allowing for new and useful information to appear.
New information always does appear.
Contexts change. And when they do, they can outdate the Content.
5. You think Action is always better than No Action.
When the reverse is usually true.
Nature, left alone, usually corrects its own problems.
Outside meddling usually makes matters worse.
6. You’ll be bloody dangerous in any position of authority.
Biden? Afghanistan?
When Strong Opinion has Power, and considers no other perspective, innocent people can die.
You can’t avoid Opinions.
But make room for your thinking to be flawed.
Psychologist Daniel Kahneman would think to himself, My opinion is probably wrong about this, but what might it be true of?
