How to Stand Up to Twitter Manipulation Algorithms and Get Your Account Back?

Original Article Title: "Battle Against X Platform: Why Is Your Traffic So Mysterious?"

Original Article Author: Hongyu, Crypto Researcher

If you are a Twitter blogger, you have been experiencing an abnormal phenomenon for almost half a year.

Specifically, the traffic and engagement data suddenly plummeted at a certain time, and the trending content had a strange tone — an in-depth analysis received zero engagement after dozens of views, while a borderline sensational post surged in followers.

The main content of this article is about why this phenomenon occurs. In other words, how did the clever design of the X platform ruin the vertical users you painstakingly accumulated?

Platform Weakens the Following Page, Defaulting Users to the Recommendation Page

In fact, it was caused by two platform measures:

- Weakening the emphasis on the following page and defaulting users to the recommendation page; this phenomenon is so severe that some bloggers need to write custom scripts to forcefully switch back to the following page

- Diminishing follower content displayed in chronological order and shifting to algorithmic recommendations

The reason is that last year, the platform introduced Grok as a weighted factor in the algorithm decision. I won't go into the complex details here, but the result is: this either silences posts completely or suddenly blesses them with algorithmic propagation, initiating viral dissemination with no middle ground.

The motivation behind this approach is also easy to understand; if users only see follow-up content, the platform's ad insertions will be very awkward. For example, you can only awkwardly insert an ad like WeChat does, then forge comments and likes from friends below the ad.

Doing this may seem to enhance the platform's commercial value in the short term, but in practice, it's not the case, especially in the heavily gambling-oriented coin circle.

@supermao had a incisive discussion in the article: Everyone is saying that CT content is declining? So what is the root cause? Have you been to Las Vegas? Have you seen the big gamblers in the casino needing to read newspapers or books? What they need are presidential suites, luxurious beauties. The coin circle is essentially a narrative dominated by gambling; everything revolves around price fluctuations, wins and losses, and bets. More and more smart people are realizing that if their entire lives are directly tied to the market, it is difficult to maintain long-term physical and mental health, or to think clearly.

The result of these two measures is that a large amount of paid promotional content, such as AI-generated articles/pornography/edgy/ideologically sensitive content, has taken over users' recommendation page timelines, and the evil cultivation matrix accounts have become mainstream.

I'm sure you understand the algorithm better than I do. The more users click on these things, the system will automatically determine your point of interest. They will receive more and more of these things, and eventually, the entire recommended feed will be filled with these things.

The Destruction of In-Depth Content

The result is that many relatively niche bloggers find it strange that their tweets' traffic is so low. After spending half a day writing in-depth content, they get a few dozen views and zero engagement. But when they post a suggestive image or express some anti-establishment extremist views, they suddenly gain hundreds of followers.

In reality, the distribution channels for their niche content have been hijacked by the recommendation mechanism, and their followers haven't seen what they've been posting for a long time.

The image below depicts a common scenario:

Finally, in order to survive, niche bloggers are forced to create content that pleases the mainstream audience. Otherwise, they'd better leave this platform and find a new one.

The result is a mass exodus of high-quality creators. Social media platforms are very atmosphere-oriented places. Platforms like Weibo, Zhihu, and Bilibili have become cesspools filled with misandry, misogyny, ideologically sensitive content, and all sorts of antisocial negativity, all stemming from the out-of-control community atmosphere. After all, content that generates controversy and explicit content are the most attention-grabbing; in the short term, they can increase engagement, but in the long run, they will cause a dual loss of quality content and commercial value.

Many bloggers, such as @nic_carter and @notboringco, are actually slowly transitioning to Substack subscriptions.

Leverage Network Value Strategies to Reshape Your Influence

All week, the "Dan Koe 'One-Day Restart'" long article became an explosive hit.

This article received over 150 million views. A non-celebrity, non-billionaire getting this level of traffic is definitely officially promoted; Elon Musk's retweet and the million-dollar New Concept Essay Contest really highlight the issue and also somewhat support Nikita Bier's product-driven growth strategy.

I have previously written about Nikita Bier in a short biography. In fact, his strategy revolves around one point:

- Increase interaction between network user nodes—provocative content, recommended feed

· What Type of Content Can Increase Network Value — In-depth articles, preferably with a touch of professional inspiration

· Increasing Network Value — Subscription + Ad Revenue Boost up

It is very necessary to increase network value. Although major advertisers such as Apple and Disney have returned, the number of subscription users has grown, but in the third quarter of last year, Twitter still had a net loss of $577 million, so more effort is needed.

Just think about it, our action plan can be divided into 3 parts:

1. If You Can't Beat Them, Join Them:

· First, you need to get a premium account, you must have the ability to write articles, right? Now, traffic revolves around the blue v, at least you can let paid promotions reach more users

· Wait for the algorithm's blessing, mix in-depth articles with high-interaction hooks (such as questions, controversies)

2. Customized Service: When traffic comes, create WeChat/Twitter/Telegram small groups or a Newsletter, ensuring point-to-point reach, I have already cultivated the habit of reading in-depth content in emails

3. Wait: Do nothing, just focus on producing content. I have a feeling that @nikitabier should start addressing this issue soon

I can't continue writing here, but in short, it's that slogan:

Let's Stand Up and Get the Party Started!

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