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
The sky is blue
The mass exodus from X (Twitter) to Bluesky has been the talk of the week among UK PR and comms people. Never one to be left behind, I joined them.
The sky is blue.
The mass exodus from X (Twitter) to Bluesky has been the talk of the week among UK PR and comms people. Never one to be left behind, I joined them.
Despite a recent growth spurt of a million new users daily, Bluesky at 22m users is much smaller than X’s 586m. However, Bluesky app usage in the UK has increased by 352% (and 519% in the USA). In deciding whether to move, two important considerations come into play. Firstly, as an organisation or individual, do you want to use a platform, X, that promotes misinformation and hate and whose owner clearly dislikes the UK? Secondly, where are your audiences (and those who inform or influence you) now hanging out on social? Politicians, government (including local authorities), and many journalists are still on X. It does look like many UK journalists are considering the move to Bluesky, according to PRMoment.
Dan Slee recently surveyed those who ran public and charity sector organisational X accounts. In the public sector, a quarter have left X, and a quarter are staying, with half evaluating their position. Over 60% were evaluating their position in the charity sector, with only 11% staying.
On Monday, the CIPR announced that it would cease active posting on X, citing growing concerns over declining engagement, platform governance, and the proliferation of misinformation. The CIPR also said it would strengthen its LinkedIn and Instagram presence and launch a Bluesky channel. I only read praise for the CIPR decision on LinkedIn.
This is a rare movement in PR/comms. So, you may be wondering how to start with Bluesky after signing up. Some things will feel familiar to X/Twitter users, such as the short-form character limit (300 on Bluesky) and pithy posts. Other things are different. For example, starter packs! These curated collections of users allow you to follow multiple accounts based on specific interests or themes quickly. Feeds are user-generated timelines that aggregate posts based on specific criteria, such as topics. They provide a way to organise the content you see in your timeline without relying on the platform’s algorithm. Lists are curated feeds on topics and are not about following other people. Oh, did I mention that there were no adverts? I joined the starter packs ‘Advisory Club’ (David Gallagher’s brilliant comms group) and ‘Crisis Comms’ and Stuart Bruce’s lists ‘public relations and communications’ and ‘UK journalists’.
I’m probably missing some great starter packs and lists. As I find them, I’ll post them on my LinkedIn account.
A recent letter in The Guardian after the cold spell made me laugh. Stephen Chicken of Swinton, Scottish Borders, quipped, “I was surprised to see that the Met Office had issued a cold weather warning on X. Of all organisations, surely our iconic weather forecaster should be leading the transfer to Bluesky”.
You can find me on Bluesky at @EnglishmanInLatvia.bsky.social
[Image: Yohan Marion on Unsplash]
