Yesterday I celebrated the shadow ban being lifted from my account.
I’M BACK BOYS!
Ain’t no shadowban getting me down.
They call me Arnold ’cause I’ll be back.
That being said, I updated my newsletter landing page.
What do you think?
— Alex Van Dromme (@VanDrommeAlex)
Jun 19, 2023
You might have noticed the Twitter armageddon last week. 99% of all Money Twitter creators ended up being shadowbanned (a normal search suggestion ban) for a few hours.
The world went crazy. It was a true apocalypse. Everyone started freaking out. Thinking Elon finally revealed his true nature. He had to unleash his hatred on fake gurus and stoicism accounts. Because believe me.
Not a single “Stay calm”, “This too shall pass”, or “We suffer more in imagination than in reality” post was made.
But that wasn’t it. After this generic shadowban was lifted from anyone. Elon announced the team was experimenting with new security measures.
One of which was an entirely new type of shadowban — the one I got a few days later. The community now refers to it as a ‘soft shadowban’. But don’t let that name fool you. It’s the hardest one I’ve ever experienced.
My posts were only shown to my current followers. That alone already reduces your reach by 80%. Then my comments didn’t exist. Truly. I could leave as many comments as I liked. Twitter wouldn’t show them.
Not even in the “show more” comments section. They just didn’t exist at all.
This went on for over a week. As you might imagine. I didn’t grow a single follower over the last few days.
Why am I sharing this? Am I whining about this? No. Or I don’t hope so at least. All in all it didn’t bother me that much. I knew this was only temporary. It wouldn’t matter a year from now.
But this has been a useful experience. It showed me just how reliant we are on Twitter. On our accounts. Everything could be going smoothly until one day something happens. Twitter shuts down. Your account gets (shadow)banned. You never know.
That’s why it’s important not just to have an audience. But to own your audience. One way to do so it by building an email list.
You might have missed me on your Twitter timeline. But you sure as hell didn’t miss me in your inbox. Whatever happens to my Twitter. I retain my email list. I never have to start from 0 ever again. It’s also a consistent source of income. One that can’t be taken away from me.
I hope you realized how important it is to build your email list by reading my story. If you don’t have yours yet. Don’t waste any more time. Create yours today. Secure your audience. Don’t be reliant on external channels you have no control over. Build an audience you own and an income source that can’t be taken away from you now.