Responding to Criticism

Putting your thoughts and ideas out into the Twitterverse can yield many positive benefits (which you can read about when the rest of the mini-Guide is released!).

However, it can also lead to unproductive disagreements and even condemnation. As you post more and gain more followers, your tweets will be seen by more people in your industry, including more people who disagree with you—some of whom are not afraid to let you know it. Your peers, and potentially your future collaborators, employees, or employers are looking on. It’s important to act professionally while responding to feedback and show your openness to critical feedback.

• Clive Thompson (@pomeranian99), a New York Times journalist, addressed a correction about an article he wrote directly to Twitter after receiving criticism on the platform.

• Tracy Chou (@triketora), the founder of Block Party and prominent tech industry figure, responded with a clarification and apology when critiqued about a view she expressed about participants of the cryptocurrency field.

When engaging with criticism, remember the following:

• Most people are well-intentioned and don’t have the desire to personally attack you.
• You are not your individual ideas. Critiques of your ideas should not be taken as critiques of you as a person. Don’t take anything personally and launch into attack-mode as a result.
• Nuance can be lost in 280 characters. Someone engaging with your ideas may come off as rude due to these limitations.
• It’s perfectly OK to change your views, admit you were wrong, or note that you hadn’t considered a particular angle.
• While it’s helpful in the long-run to consider objections to your ideas, you don’t need to respond. Sometimes liking a tweet can be a way of acknowledging a critique without fully engaging.

Despite feeling attacked, it’s key to differentiate between critical feedback and valid criticism versus ad-hominem attacks and bad faith denunciations. Listen and respond thoughtfully to the former, block people who engage in the latter two.

​important​ There’s a big difference between “blocking people who disagree with you” and “blocking people who are intentionally rude and hurtful.” Blocking people to protect both your headspace and tweet mentions does not mean you live in a bubble or reject all criticism. It means you’re preserving space for people who can engage respectfully with what you post.

Legitimate critical feedback is an opportunity to grow professionally and should be treated as such. Responding in a way that’s negative or overly sensitive is easily observed by your followers and can signal that you’re not receptive to growth.