Bite Size Comms
Bite Size Comms is a weekly podcast that will give you a perspective on an aspect of public relations and communications practice. Bite size as they are short opinion pieces on topical issues. The episodes are sometimes contentious, sometimes funny, and they all aim to provoke thought.
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Bite Size Comms
"Should I stay or should I go"
A song by the Clash in 1982. Many organisations are also considering this question regarding using the X social media platform, formerly Twitter. The amplification of far-right disinformation on the platform, seemingly endorsed by the owner of X, following recent riots in England and Northern Ireland by thugs, has brought that question to a senior management level.
“Should I stay or should I go”
A song by the Clash in 1982. Many organisations are also considering this question regarding using the X social media platform, formerly Twitter. The amplification of far-right disinformation on the platform, seemingly endorsed by the owner of X, following recent riots in England and Northern Ireland by thugs, has brought that question to a senior management level.
The story started a few years ago when far-right commentators were allowed back on Twitter/X. Corporations saw a reputation risk of advertising on the platform and suspended their advertising spend. Elon Musk told them to FO, and they did. Now, he is suing them for doing what he suggested. Weird!
Over the last few years, organisations and individuals have used X less. Excellent analysis by Dan Slee found that around three-quarters of the followers of local authority and blue light services X accounts in the Black Country (West Midlands) were dormant (no posts in the last six months), and two-thirds of NHS accounts in the same area were dormant. The question is, have many people become passive users of X, not posting because of the possibility of abuse in return, or no longer using the platform?
Journalists still use X (although they are complaining about the platform), and politicians are there. Despite all the talk about Threads and Bluesky as alternatives, they do not have the reach or algorithm support to get an organisation’s news out quickly.
In my experience, it is not easy to erase an X account. I have been trying for weeks. You have to start a deactivation process for 30 days, and only then can you erase an account. Fair enough. Whenever I go through the process, X tells me at the last stage, "Oops, an error has occurred. Try another time.” It sounds like ‘sludge’ (intentionally making things difficult—the opposite of ‘nudge’ in behaviour change communications) in operation.
However, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Government Communications Service told government communicators to stop using X, as they did about TikTok because of its Chinese ownership. The Foreign Office tells British Ambassadors to be active on X. They are. They post regular travel tweets about the country they are operating in, where they have been and what they have seen. It is not about Britain as a tourism destination or its foreign policy but about promoting another country. Bizarre!
Whether or how to use X must be an organisational decision. A cost (reputation, ethics, values) vs. benefit (audiences the organisation wish to engage with are still reading posts on X, a quick way to get an important message out) analysis. But don’t rely just on X to reach and engage your audience if you remain an active user. Dan’s conclusion for the public sector was “X makes sense as a prime emergency channel rather than a prime daily platform”. Sound advice.
Should I stay or should I go? This is a question to ponder over as summer ends.
[Image by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash]
