What to Tweet When You Have No Ideas: The Complete Guide for Founders and Creators

You open X. The cursor blinks. Your brain goes completely blank.

You've been staring at the tweet box for four minutes. That's four minutes you could have spent on literally anything else. You type something, delete it, type something worse, delete that too.

Eventually you close the tab and tell yourself you'll post later. You won't.

This happens to everyone. Founders building in public, creators trying to grow an audience, marketers who are supposed to know better. The blank tweet box is the universal equalizer.

But here's the thing: the people who always seem to have something to tweet aren't more interesting than you. They just have a system. And once you have one, you'll never stare at that blinking cursor again.

This guide gives you that system.

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Table of Contents

• Why You're Stuck (It's Not What You Think)
• The 5 Sources Framework: Your Content Engine
  • Source 1: Your Daily Work
  • Source 2: Your Consumption
  • Source 3: Your Conversations
  • Source 4: Your Milestones
  • Source 5: Your Opinions
• The Remix Method: Turn 1 Idea Into 5+ Tweets
• Beating the Three Fears
• The Weekly Content Plan: Batch It or Forget It
• The Never-Run-Out Cheat Sheet: 50+ Prompts by Day of the Week

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Why You're Stuck

Most people think their problem is creativity. "I just don't have interesting things to say."

Wrong. Your problem is that you're trying to create from nothing. You sit down with no inputs, no system, no raw material, and expect a fully-formed tweet to materialize out of thin air.

That's not how content works. Nobody creates from zero. The best tweeters are curators, observers, and documenters. They take what already exists in their life and shape it into something worth sharing.

The difference between someone who "always has something to post" and someone who stares at a blank box? The first person has a capture system. They notice tweet-worthy moments as they happen and write them down. The second person tries to remember those moments at 10 PM and draws a blank.

So instead of asking "what should I tweet?" -- ask "what did I experience, learn, feel, or notice today?"

That reframe changes everything.

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The 5 Sources Framework: Your Content Engine

Here's the system. I call it The 5 Sources Framework because every tweet you'll ever need comes from one of five places.

Think of these as five wells you can draw from. Some days one well is dry. That's fine. You've got four others. The point is you always have somewhere to go.

Let's break down each one.

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Source 1: Your Daily Work

This is the most overlooked goldmine. Whatever you do every day -- building a product, writing code, designing, selling, managing, freelancing -- is content.

Why it works: People are endlessly curious about how other people work. They want to peek behind the curtain. Your "boring Tuesday" is someone else's fascinating tutorial.

The key insight: You don't need to wait for big moments. The small stuff is the content. The bug you squashed, the feature you shipped, the email you rewrote three times, the spreadsheet hack that saved you an hour. All of it.

Here are specific tweet templates from this source:

1. "Today I spent 3 hours on [specific task]. Here's what I learned..."
2. "Just shipped [feature/thing]. It took [time]. The hardest part was [honest detail]."
3. "The most useful thing I did today was [small task everyone overlooks]."
4. "I almost [made a mistake]. Here's what saved me..."
5. "My workflow for [specific task]: [3-5 quick steps]"
6. "Unpopular workflow opinion: I still use [old tool/method] for [task] because [reason]."
7. "Before and after of [thing you improved]. Small changes, big difference."
8. "Something I wish I'd known before starting [project/task]: [insight]."
9. "I just automated [boring task] and it saves me [time] per week. Here's how."
10. "Honest status update: [project] is at [stage]. Going well: [thing]. Struggling with: [thing]."
11. "The tool that changed my [workflow/process] this month: [tool + why]."
12. "TIL that [technical or industry-specific thing]. Can't believe I didn't know this sooner."
13. "Hot take: [common practice in your field] is a waste of time. Here's what I do instead."
14. "Just spent [time] debugging [problem]. The fix was [embarrassingly simple thing]. Every time."

Tips for making it authentic:

Don't polish it too much. The raw, real-time version is always more interesting than the cleaned-up recap. "Just spent 2 hours on a bug that turned out to be a missing semicolon" hits harder than a five-paragraph essay about debugging methodology.

Include the failures. Nobody trusts someone who only shares wins. The struggles are what make people root for you.

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Source 2: Your Consumption

You already spend hours reading articles, listening to podcasts, scrolling Twitter, and watching videos. You're just not turning any of it into content.

Why it works: Curation is a form of creation. When you filter through thousands of things and surface the one interesting idea, you're providing value. Your audience doesn't have time to read everything. You're their filter.

The key insight: You don't need to have an original thought about everything. Sometimes the value is just saying "I read this and it's good" or "this made me think about X."

Tweet templates from this source:

1. "Just read [article/book] by [author]. The one line that stuck with me: '[quote]'"
2. "Listened to [podcast]. The idea I can't stop thinking about: [idea in one sentence]."
3. "Three things I bookmarked this week (and why): [list]"
4. "I used to believe [old belief]. Then I read [thing] and now I think [new belief]."
5. "Best thread I've seen this week: [link or summary]. The key takeaway for me..."
6. "[Author/creator] said [idea]. I agree with the first part, but here's where I think it breaks down..."
7. "Reading [book] right now. Chapter [X] just explained something I've been struggling to articulate: [idea]."
8. "The newsletter I look forward to every week: [newsletter]. Here's why it's worth subscribing."
9. "A tweet from [person] made me rethink how I approach [thing]. The tweet: [summary]."
10. "I keep coming back to this quote: '[quote]'. It applies to [your context] because [reason]."
11. "I watched [talk/video] and took one note: [the note]. That's all you need from it."
12. "Something I disagree with from [thing I consumed]: [opinion]. Here's my counter-argument..."

Tips for making it authentic:

Always add your own angle. Don't just share a link. Tell people why it matters to you specifically. "Great article on pricing" is boring. "This article on pricing made me realize I've been undercharging for 2 years" is a tweet.

Credit people. Tag the creator. It's good practice and it often gets you engagement from their audience.

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Source 3: Your Conversations

Every day you talk to people -- customers, friends, coworkers, strangers in DMs. Those conversations are packed with content ideas hiding in plain sight.

Why it works: If one person asked you a question, hundreds of people have the same question. If a customer gave you feedback, that feedback is a window into what your audience cares about. If you had a debate with a friend, the topic is probably worth exploring publicly.

The key insight: Start treating every interesting conversation as a potential tweet. Not by sharing private details, but by extracting the insight.

Tweet templates from this source:

1. "A customer told me [feedback]. It completely changed how I think about [thing]."
2. "Someone DM'd me asking about [topic]. Here's my answer (since others probably wonder too):"
3. "Had a debate with a friend about [topic]. Their argument: [summary]. My argument: [summary]. Who's right?"
4. "The most common question I get: '[question]'. Short answer: [answer]."
5. "A founder friend said something that stuck: '[quote or paraphrase]'. It applies to [broader context]."
6. "Just got off a call where someone asked me [question]. Made me realize [insight]."
7. "3 questions people keep asking me about [your niche]. Answering all of them here:"
8. "Something my [mentor/friend/coworker] said years ago that I finally understand: [insight]."
9. "Had coffee with [type of person]. One thing they said that surprised me: [thing]."
10. "My users keep telling me [feedback]. I used to ignore it. Here's why I'm finally listening."
11. "A conversation this week made me realize: most people think [common belief], but actually [reality]."
12. "Someone pushed back on my [opinion/approach] and made a really good point: [point]. Still thinking about it."

Tips for making it authentic:

Anonymize when needed. "A customer told me..." works just as well as naming them, and it respects privacy.

Don't make every conversation a content opportunity in the moment. Be present in the conversation first. Jot down the insight afterward.

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Source 4: Your Milestones

Wins, losses, numbers, anniversaries, before-and-after moments. Milestones are natural content because they come with built-in narrative tension: where you were vs. where you are now.

Why it works: People love progress stories. They're inherently motivating. A milestone tweet says "this is possible" and that message resonates with anyone working toward something similar.

The key insight: You don't need to hit huge milestones. Small ones count. Your first customer, your 100th commit, one month of daily posting, finishing a book, hitting inbox zero for the first time in a year. The bar is lower than you think.

Tweet templates from this source:

1. "Today marks [X] days/months of [thing]. Here's what changed:"
2. "[Number] users. [Number] months. Here's how it happened (and what almost killed it)."
3. "One year ago: [where you were]. Today: [where you are]. The biggest lesson in between:"
4. "Just hit [milestone]. Feels surreal. A quick thread on what it took:"
5. "Small win today: [thing]. Doesn't sound like much, but [context for why it matters]."
6. "Revenue update: $[X] MRR. This time last year: $[Y]. The one thing that moved the needle:"
7. "I almost quit [thing] at the [early stage]. Glad I didn't. Here's what kept me going."
8. "Celebrating something small: [thing]. Because if you only celebrate the big stuff, you'll burn out before you get there."
9. "Before: [old way/old result]. After: [new way/new result]. What changed: [the thing you did differently]."
10. "First [thing] ever today. It's not perfect, but it exists. That counts."
11. "The thing nobody tells you about hitting [milestone]: [honest/unexpected observation]."
12. "3 months ago I started [thing]. Here's a brutally honest update on how it's going."

Tips for making it authentic:

Include the messy middle, not just the highlight reel. "Hit 1K followers (after 8 months of posting to crickets)" is more relatable and more interesting than just "Hit 1K followers."

Don't be afraid of small numbers. Someone with 50 followers sharing their journey to 100 is compelling content for everyone who has 30. You're not performing for people ahead of you. You're documenting for people behind you.

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Source 5: Your Opinions

Hot takes. Predictions. Things that annoy you. Things you love. Industry commentary. Controversial stances. Observations about your field.

This is the source most people are afraid of. It's also the one that builds the strongest personal brand.

Why it works: Opinions create engagement. When you take a stance, people either agree (and share) or disagree (and reply). Both are good for reach. More importantly, opinions make you memorable. Nobody remembers the person who shared a helpful tip. Everyone remembers the person who said something they strongly agreed or disagreed with.

The key insight: You already have strong opinions about your industry, your craft, and how things should be done. You're just not saying them out loud because you're worried about pushback. That pushback is the engagement.

Tweet templates from this source:

1. "Unpopular opinion: [thing most people in your industry believe] is wrong. Here's why."
2. "The best [tool/approach] for [task] is [your pick]. And no, it's not [popular pick]. Here's why."
3. "Hot take: [prediction about your industry in the next 1-2 years]."
4. "Something that annoys me about [your industry]: [specific thing]. It should work like [this] instead."
5. "Advice I keep seeing that I completely disagree with: '[common advice]'. Here's what I'd say instead."
6. "The [thing] everyone is excited about? I'm skeptical. Here's what nobody's talking about."
7. "Three things I'd change about [your industry/tool/platform] tomorrow if I could:"
8. "I love [specific thing] and I don't care if it's uncool. Here's my case for it."
9. "People overcomplicate [thing]. The simple version: [your simple approach]."
10. "A hill I will die on: [strong opinion about your niche]."
11. "Most [your role] advice is written by people who've never actually [done the thing]. Here's what they get wrong:"
12. "[Trend] is not going away. Here's how I think it plays out over the next year."
13. "Everyone's talking about [trending topic]. Here's the angle nobody's considering:"
14. "I changed my mind about [thing]. I used to think [old opinion]. Now I think [new opinion]. Here's what changed."

Tips for making it authentic:

You don't need to be contrarian for the sake of it. Forced hot takes are transparent and annoying. Only share opinions you actually hold.

Back it up. "X is bad" is lazy. "X is bad because [specific reason from your experience]" is valuable.

Be willing to be wrong. The best opinion tweets end with "but I could be wrong -- what do you think?" That's not weakness. That's confidence.

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The Remix Method: Turn 1 Idea Into 5+ Tweets

Here's a cheat code: you don't need five ideas. You need one idea and five angles.

The Remix Method takes a single experience, insight, or thought and turns it into multiple pieces of content by changing the format, audience, or framing.

Let's say you just launched a new feature after three weeks of work. Here's one idea, remixed into seven tweets:

The Announcement: "Just shipped [feature]. Here's what it does and why we built it."

The Process: "It took 3 weeks to build [feature]. Here's the timeline: Week 1 was [X], Week 2 was [Y], Week 3 was [Z]."

The Lesson: "Building [feature] taught me something I didn't expect: [lesson about the process]."

The Mistake: "We almost built [feature] completely wrong. Here's the first version vs. the final version."

The Opinion: "Most [products in your space] handle [this problem] badly. Here's why we took a different approach with [feature]."

The Question: "What's the one feature you wish [type of product] had? We just shipped ours. Curious what yours would be."

The Metric: "[Feature] has been live for 48 hours. [X] people have used it. Here's the early data."

See how that works? One event, seven tweets. And each one feels completely different.

How to remix anything:

• Change the format. Turn a tip into a question. Turn a story into a list. Turn an opinion into a poll.
• Change the audience. Explain the same thing to beginners, then to experts. The tweet will be completely different.
• Change the timeframe. Talk about it in real-time, then reflect on it a week later, then revisit it in three months.
• Change the emotion. The frustrated version, the proud version, the funny version, the analytical version.
• Pull out individual details. A single tweet about launching a feature might contain three interesting sub-stories. Each one is its own tweet.

If you practice the Remix Method, a single productive day gives you a week of content. One interesting conversation gives you three tweets. One article you read gives you two.

You don't need more ideas. You need more angles on the ideas you already have.

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Beating the Three Fears

Before we get to the tactical stuff, let's address the voices in your head. Because the biggest obstacle to tweeting consistently isn't a lack of ideas. It's fear.

Fear 1: "My Life Isn't Interesting Enough"

You think you need to be building a rocketship or traveling the world to have good content. You don't.

The most engaging tweets come from ordinary moments with a sharp observation attached. "I spent 20 minutes writing an email that could have been 2 sentences. We all do this. Why?" is better content than a selfie from Bali.

Your daily life is interesting to people who are living a similar daily life. Founders want to hear from other founders. Designers want to hear from other designers. Parents who code want to hear from other parents who code.

You're not trying to impress everyone. You're trying to connect with your people.

Fear 2: "Nobody Cares What I Think"

This one's sneaky because it feels humble. But it's actually arrogant in reverse -- you're assuming you know what other people find valuable before giving them a chance to decide.

Here's the reality: you only need a small number of people to care. Ten people who consistently engage with your tweets is more valuable than 10,000 followers who scroll past.

And those ten people? They're out there. They're the ones doing similar work, facing similar challenges, thinking about similar problems. They'll care. You just have to post first.

Start by writing for one person. Think of a specific friend or colleague and write the tweet for them. If it would be useful or interesting to them, it's worth posting.

Fear 3: "I Don't Want to Sound Like a Guru"

Good. Don't be a guru. Be a peer.

The guru voice is: "Here are 7 secrets to success." The peer voice is: "Here's something I tried that worked for me."

The guru voice is: "You need to do X." The peer voice is: "I've been doing X and the results surprised me."

Share what you're learning, not what you've mastered. Document your journey, don't teach from a pedestal. Use "I" more than "you." Say "I found" instead of "you should."

The internet doesn't need more experts. It needs more honest people showing their work.

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The Weekly Content Plan: Batch It or Forget It

Knowing what to tweet is half the battle. The other half is not having to figure it out at 10 PM every night.

The solution is batching. Set aside one focused session per week -- 60 to 90 minutes -- to create all your tweets for the next seven days.

Here's a simple weekly workflow:

Step 1: Capture (ongoing, 5 seconds per idea)

Throughout the week, dump raw ideas into a single note on your phone. Don't edit, don't craft, just capture the spark. A sentence, a phrase, a screenshot, whatever triggers the idea. By the end of the week you'll have 10-20 raw ideas.

Step 2: Draft (40 minutes, once per week)

Sit down with your raw ideas and your 5 Sources Framework. Go through each source and ask:

• What did I work on this week? (Source 1)
• What did I read, watch, or listen to? (Source 2)
• What conversations stood out? (Source 3)
• Did I hit any milestones, big or small? (Source 4)
• What opinions or reactions did I have? (Source 5)

Write 10-15 tweets. Don't aim for perfection. Get the ideas down.

Step 3: Edit (20 minutes)

Go through your drafts and sharpen them. Cut unnecessary words. Make the first line hook-worthy. Add a question at the end where it makes sense. Kill the ones that feel forced.

You'll usually end up with 8-12 solid tweets from a batch of 15 drafts. That's plenty for a week.

Step 4: Schedule (10 minutes)

Load them into your scheduling tool. Spread them across the week. Mix up the sources and formats so your feed doesn't feel repetitive. Post at times when your audience is active (usually weekday mornings and early afternoons).

Step 5: Engage (10 minutes daily)

This isn't optional. Scheduling handles the posting, but you still need to show up and reply to comments, engage with other people's posts, and join conversations. The algorithm rewards it, and your audience expects it.

Total time commitment: ~90 minutes of batching + 10 minutes of daily engagement. That's it. No more daily scrambling. No more blank tweet box panic.

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The Never-Run-Out Cheat Sheet: 50+ Prompts by Day of the Week

Bookmark this. When you're batching content and the well feels dry, pull a prompt from the day you're writing for.

Monday -- Momentum Prompts

1. What's the one thing you're focused on this week?
2. Share a goal for the week (and why it matters).
3. What did you learn last week that you're applying this week?
4. The tool or habit that makes your Mondays suck less.
5. A mistake from last week you're not going to repeat.
6. What does your ideal productive week look like?
7. Share your #1 priority today and why everything else can wait.
8. A Monday morning thought that's been on your mind.

Tuesday -- Teaching Prompts

9. Explain something you're good at in 280 characters or less.
10. Share a shortcut or hack you use daily.
11. What's one thing beginners get wrong about your field?
12. A quick tutorial or step-by-step for something you did recently.
13. The most counterintuitive lesson from your work.
14. Share a resource (article, tool, template) that helped you.
15. What would you tell yourself when you were starting out?

Wednesday -- Conversation Prompts

16. Ask your audience a genuine question about their work.
17. Start a "this or that" debate relevant to your niche.
18. Share a conversation you had this week (anonymized) and the takeaway.
19. What's the best advice you've received recently? Do you agree?
20. Post a poll: "Which matters more: [X] or [Y]?"
21. Reply to someone else's tweet with your perspective, then share it.
22. What's the most underrated skill in your industry?

Thursday -- Personal Prompts

23. Share something about your work setup or daily routine.
24. A behind-the-scenes look at what you're building.
25. Something you're struggling with right now (be honest).
26. An unpopular opinion you hold about your industry.
27. The book, podcast, or article that changed how you think.
28. Share a win from this week, even if it's small.
29. A photo or screenshot of something you're working on.
30. What does your typical workday look like?

Friday -- Reflection Prompts

31. Three things that went well this week.
32. One thing you'd do differently if you could redo this week.
33. The best thing you read, watched, or listened to this week.
34. A tweet-length review of a tool you tried this week.
35. What are you most proud of from the past 5 days?
36. Something that surprised you this week.
37. Share your weekend plans (yes, people care).
38. The biggest open question you're still thinking about.

Saturday -- Story Prompts

39. Tell a short story from your career in 3-4 sentences.
40. A "before I knew this, I did that" tweet.
41. The origin story of your product, project, or career path.
42. A time you failed and what came out of it.
43. The weirdest thing that happened to you professionally.
44. A turning point moment that changed your trajectory.
45. Share a customer or user story (with permission or anonymized).

Sunday -- Big Picture Prompts

46. A prediction about your industry for the next 12 months.
47. What would you build if you had unlimited time and money?
48. The one metric you obsess over and why.
49. Something you believe that most people in your space don't.
50. What does "success" look like for you right now? Has it changed?
51. A thread recapping your best tweets or insights from the week.
52. What are you most excited about going into next week?

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Putting It All Together

Let's recap the system:

1. Use the 5 Sources Framework. Every tweet comes from your work, your consumption, your conversations, your milestones, or your opinions. When one source is dry, tap another.

2. Apply the Remix Method. One idea equals five tweets. Change the format, the audience, the timeframe, or the emotion.

3. Batch weekly. 90 minutes once a week beats 15 scattered minutes every day. Capture ideas throughout the week, draft and schedule in one focused session.

4. Use the cheat sheet. When you're stuck mid-batch, pull a prompt from the list. Fill in the blanks with your actual experience.

5. Stop overthinking it. The best tweets aren't the ones you spent 30 minutes wordsmithing. They're the honest, specific, off-the-cuff ones that share something real.

The blank tweet box isn't your enemy. It's an empty container waiting for something only you can fill -- your specific experience, your particular perspective, your unique combination of knowledge and personality.

You have more to say than you think. You just needed a system to find it.

Now go write some tweets.

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And if you want to automate some of this -- turning your blog posts, code commits, or product updates into tweets automatically -- OpenTweet does exactly that.