By I guess we can’t really say “subtweets” anymore because Twitter is now X and tweets are now blandly called “posts.” But we all know in our bones what a subtweet is. It’s a unique description for the subtle shade thrown someone’s way on a text-based social media platform. Someone you know (or hate?) writes about the importance of waking up at 5am to be the first one hitting the trail, so you fire off your own tweet, “People who wake up at 5am to exercise clearly don’t have a life. Or children.” It’s a subtweet clearly aimed at their take. And if you roll in the same internet circles, you might find your post going viral. Take your victory lap and high five your fellow internet weirdos.
I’m not here to tell you to subtweet people. I’m here to tell you to post invisible subtweets. An invisible subtweet is when you respond to a post without directly referencing it—no tags, no screenshots, no quote tweets—just your own standalone take. The goal isn’t to tear anybody down; it’s to lift your ideas up. Here’s what I mean:
You’re scrolling your social feed or skimming the headlines, and something sparks a strong reaction. Maybe it made you laugh, maybe it made you cringe, or maybe it made you want to throw your phone across the room. That’s your cue to create.
Your first instinct might be to repost and dunk on it. It’s the easy way out and is sure to fire all your dopamine receptors. But in that process, it’s likely to invite your followers to dogpile on the original poster and reply with ad hominem attacks on either OP or you. That wasn’t what you wanted to happen. You’re a mature adult who simply let their impulses rule in the moment. What you really wanted was for your idea to shine.
So instead, take the high road. Pause. Let the emotion simmer. Then turn your rebuttal into a standalone piece. A few days later, publish it as a blog post, newsletter, or social post. Don’t quote-tweet it. Don’t mention names. Just put your opinion out there, fully formed, in your own words.
Invisible subtweets aren’t limited to Twitter/X or hot takes. They can come from podcasts, YouTube videos, industry reports—anything your audience is paying attention to. If you’re listening to a podcast and find yourself disagreeing or shouting “yes!” in the car, that’s your sign. Jot down your thoughts. Build something from that.
And here’s the real kicker: if you feel triggered enough to want to respond, there’s a good chance you have something worth saying. A novel point of view. A smarter take. A richer context. The goal isn’t to fight on the internet. It’s to contribute to the conversation in a way that’s healthy and valuable.
Why waste your energy in the comments section of someone else’s post… when you can put it on your own page—where you get the credit, the engagement, the new followers, the clicks? That’s pretty much my personal social media strategy. A couple years ago, I was annoyed by a tweet saying how frustrated the original poster gets by people who ask for help especially when he “figured it out by [himself.]” So I posted my own invisible subtweet which ended up becoming one of my first viral LinkedIn posts:
Another time, I rolled my eyes at some creator’s advice to “have ChatGPT write all your social content for you,” so I had my own take:
And then most recently, in what feels like my perpetual “fight” against people who push back on zero-click marketing, I said:
Getting triggered by others’ opinions shouldn’t put you in a bad mood. It should fuel your ideas. And your ideas should benefit you. You don’t need to clack out a snarky reply and pump up some stranger… especially when there’s a good chance they were just trying to bait engagement in the first place. (Plus, if I’m being honest with myself, I don’t even remember the people who said the original posts that got me all fired up in the first place. All I remember is lifting up my own ideas and attracting like-minded internet friends.)
The invisible subtweet transforms internet frustration into intellectual property. So next time you’re tempted to quote-tweet someone into oblivion, don’t. Write the post. Own the idea.
Build your house instead of spray-painting someone else’s.