Having worked in social media for a while now a question I often get asked by people who aren’t in marketing is “Do you think social media is a good thing?”.
Now, generally, my answer is “yes”, but I would say that, wouldn’t I?
The thing is, with the way Twitter (yes, I know it’s now called X) has been changing in the last couple of years, it’s been harder for me to make a convincing argument for social media as a whole.
Social media platforms have never had a great reputation for managing bullying, trolls, harassment and exploitation. But I always felt the benefits outweighed the negatives and, although they didn’t always get it right, they made changes that moved the platforms in the right direction.
Musk’s tenure in charge of Twitter has seen it move in the opposite direction though, making Twitter a key part of the discourse around social media’s role in society.
Should brands be on Twitter?
I’m sure this is a question many marketing teams have grappled with recently.
But how did we get here? Let's start with a quick timeline of events that have led so many brands to consider this question.
October 2022 - Elon Musk completes the acquisition of Twitter
December 2022 - Twitter rolls out Community Notes, globally.
April 2023 - Twitter removes the trusted verification method for acquiring a Blue Tick and introduces the option to pay for them.
July 2023 - Twitter is rebranded as X
July 2024 - Riots take place across the UK in response to the Southport stabbings having been organised on X with Musk himself getting involved online.
November 2024 - Twitter alternative BlueSky gains traction with many users declaring they will be leaving Twitter.
November 2024 - Elon Musk is appointed to President Trump's administration
January 2025 – Matt Johnson writes a blog about Twitter (A watershed moment)
What does this all mean then?
Many people feel the discourse on Twitter has become toxic. So, the question is do you and your organisation believe this too? And if so, do you want your brand to be associated with that?
For some, it will be that simple. A moral stance where you land on one side of the argument or the other. But for others, it might not be as simple with other factors coming into play.
Different Resonance still has a profile, but I’ve decided that the brand will no longer be active on the platform. Personally, I have a profile and still engage with the platform. But this is limited to Hull City gossip.
How do we fix the problem?
I have, for a while, advocated for one change that would have a huge impact on the issues we all see with social media.
Requiring every account to verify their identity using photo ID.
This would allow platforms (and law enforcement) to easily identify the people behind scams, trolling, abuse and other criminal activity online.
But there are two key reasons why this won’t happen.
Resistance from users to share their ID with big tech – even normal people doing nothing wrong.
It would mean fewer people signing up to the platforms so they would make less money.
Wrapping up
Unfortunately, the obvious solution isn’t going to happen. So, if we want change, it’s about using our social power to try and make it. The recent shift from Twitter to BlueSky is an example of how this could happen.
Ultimately though, I believe it’s about accepting social media, like society, isn’t perfect. There are bad people out there with bad intentions. What we need to do is teach our young people about how to safely and respectfully use these platforms and try to instil long-term change.
We have to be brave enough to have the conversations as social media is likely to be around for the foreseeable without much political intervention to help fix the issues.
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