Why I Still Use Twitter Like a Pub

(And Why You’re Doing It Wrong)

I’ve been on Twitter for 15 years. Which means I’ve watched it go from a scrappy little platform where people shared what they had for breakfast to… well, whatever the hell X is now.

And yet, despite all the drama, the algorithm changes, the blue tick chaos, and Elon’s increasingly bizarre decisions… I’m still there. Not because I’m stubborn (though I am), but because I’ve figured out something most people haven’t.

Twitter isn’t a billboard. It’s a pub.

The Traffic Trap Everyone Falls Into

Let me tell you what doesn’t work anymore, because you’re probably still doing it.

You write a brilliant article. You’re proud of it. You’ve put hours into it. So you craft a tweet, drop the link, maybe add a clever line or two, and hit send.

Then you wait.

And wait.

And… nothing. Maybe three likes from your mum, a bot, and someone who definitely didn’t click through.

Here’s why: the platform doesn’t want you to leave. Every social media platform is the same now. They’re desperate to keep you scrolling, clicking, engaging… all within their walls. The moment you try to send someone elsewhere, the algorithm buries you.

Since March 2025, if you’re not paying for Premium, your links get zero median engagement. Zero. Not “a bit less than before.” Not “it’s harder now.” Literally invisible to most people.

Even the big publishers are haemorrhaging traffic. Between 2022 and 2023, referral traffic from X dropped by 24% on average. By late 2024, X was driving just 0.6% of publisher traffic. For context, that’s pathetic.

So why am I still bothering?

Because You’re Thinking About It Wrong

Most people treat Twitter like a motorway billboard. They want to grab attention for half a second and funnel people somewhere else. That’s not how pubs work.

You don’t walk into a pub, shout “READ MY BLOG” at everyone, then leave. Well, you could, but you’d look like a prat, and nobody would buy you a pint.

What you do instead is show up. Regularly. You have conversations. You share opinions. You listen to other people’s stories. You become part of the furniture. And then, when you’ve got something worth sharing, people actually care.

That’s what Twitter still offers that almost no other platform does: real, immediate, human conversation.

Instagram is a highlight reel. LinkedIn is a performance review. Facebook is your uncle’s conspiracy theories. TikTok is… I don’t even know what TikTok is anymore.

But Twitter? Twitter is still the place where ideas spread, where you can @ someone and they might actually respond, where discourse happens in real time. Sometimes it’s brilliant. Often it’s chaos. But it’s alive.

The Pub Strategy (Or: How I Actually Use Twitter)

Here’s what I’ve learned after 15 years of this nonsense.

1. Post your best thinking natively

Don’t save your insights for your blog and then try to tease them on Twitter. Give your best stuff away for free, right there in the timeline. Write threads. Share observations. Be useful, funny, honest, or provocative. Preferably all four.

When people see you consistently bringing value to their feed, they start paying attention. You become someone they look for, not just someone who occasionally appears with a link.

2. Build engagement first, link second

If you must share a link (and sometimes you should), don’t lead with it. Post your take. Get the conversation going. Let people engage with the idea first. Then, once there’s momentum, drop the link in a reply.

Does this feel like jumping through hoops? Absolutely. But it works. The algorithm doesn’t punish replies as harshly, and by that point, people are already invested in the conversation.

3. Relationships overreach

I’d rather have 100 people who actually know who I am and engage with what I post than 10,000 followers who scroll past without thinking.

Twitter’s still one of the few places where you can build genuine relationships with people in your field, your audience, or just interesting humans you’d never meet otherwise. Those relationships matter more than any traffic stat.

Reply to people. Have conversations. Don’t just broadcast. Be a regular at the pub, not the guy who only shows up to sell something.

4. Premium is the price of entry now (unfortunately)

I resisted this for ages. Paying for what used to be free felt wrong. But if you’re serious about using Twitter for any kind of professional purpose, Premium is no longer optional.

Your links won’t get strangled as badly. Your posts get better distribution. You can edit typos (finally). It’s annoying, but it’s reality.

Think of it like buying rounds at the pub. Yeah, it costs money, but that’s how you stay in the game.

What Twitter Still Does Better Than Anywhere Else

Despite everything, despite the chaos and the algorithm changes and the endless drama… Twitter still has something special.

Immediacy. When I post something, people who care see it and respond now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Now. That real-time element creates a different quality of connection.

Discourse. Where else can you have a thoughtful 20-tweet conversation about something niche and ridiculous and wonderful? Where else do ideas spread this fast, get challenged this quickly, evolve this publicly?

Discovery. I’ve found clients, collaborators, and friends through Twitter. People I’d never have encountered otherwise. Because the platform still rewards interesting thinking and genuine personality over polished content.

Quality over quantity. Yes, the raw traffic numbers are down. But the people who come to your work via Twitter? They’re often the best ones. They found you through an actual thought, not because an algorithm guessed they might like cat videos and your post happened to be adjacent.

Twitter accounts for 12.1% of social traffic overall. That puts it second only to Facebook. And unlike Facebook’s traffic (which is increasingly just your aunt sharing Minion memes), Twitter traffic tends to be people who actually read things.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Here’s what I wish someone had told me five years ago: Twitter will never again be the traffic-driving machine it was in 2018. Those days are gone. If you’re only there to funnel people to your website, you’re going to be disappointed.

But if you’re there to build relationships, share ideas, have conversations, and occasionally… yes, send some genuinely interested people to your work… it’s still one of the best tools we have.

The pub metaphor works because pubs aren’t efficient. You don’t go to a pub for maximum ROI per pint. You go because that’s where interesting people gather, where conversations happen, where community forms.

Twitter’s the same. It’s messy. It’s chaotic. The owner’s making baffling decisions. But it’s still where a lot of the interesting people are.

What I’d Do If I Were Starting Today

If I were building from scratch in 2025, here’s how I’d approach it:

Be consistent. Show up regularly. Not 10 times a day, just… regularly. Let people know you’re there.

Give away your best stuff. The paradox is that the more value you provide for free, the more people want to pay you for the premium version.

Engage genuinely. Not “great post!” under someone’s thread. Actually engage. Have opinions. Be willing to be wrong. Be human.

Don’t optimise for virality. Chasing viral tweets is exhausting and usually pointless. Build steady, genuine connection instead.

Accept that it’s changed. Mourn the old Twitter if you must, but don’t let nostalgia stop you using what still works about the current version.

The Bottom Line

After 15 years, I’m still on Twitter because I’ve stopped treating it like a marketing channel and started treating it like a community. The traffic’s a bonus, not the point.

Most people are doing it wrong because they’re optimising for metrics that don’t matter anymore. They’re trying to hack a system that’s been deliberately designed to resist hacking.

But if you show up like a regular, contribute to the conversation, and stop trying to extract value from every single interaction… you might find it’s still one of the most valuable platforms out there.

Not because it’ll send you thousands of visitors.

But because it’ll send you the right ones.

And honestly? In this age of uncertainty, that matters a hell of a lot more than vanity metrics ever did.