What Could Twitter’s Downfall Mean for Your 2023 PR and Comms Strategy?

Twitter is now operating on a fraction of its original workforce: the rest were fired, walked out, or didn’t pledge to be ‘extremely hardcore’ and left with three months’ pay. Elon Musk himself has been oscillating between mocking those who doubted him and calling for “anyone” left at Twitter to help him “better understand” its tech.

Is the downfall of Twitter playing out before our very eyes (ironically, on Twitter)? Many people are tweeting what they think may be their final tweet, brands like Balenciaga have left by choice and some have paused but ‘continue to monitor the situation’.

So, entertaining as this may be as an onlooker, what does this current state of flux mean for your business’ marketing and comms, especially while we’re all busy planning for 2023?

Users have been reporting multiple glitches with Twitter in recent weeks, like their own most recent tweet being trapped at the top of their feed, accounts being unfollowed, likes falling off tweets and the ability to post entire copyrighted films in two minute segments. This week we even saw the term ‘URLs’ trending. Celebrities have been taking matters into their own hands with their own ‘tests’.

Without the staff to maintain the platform, Twitter has been likened to putting a car on the road, hitting the accelerator and the driver jumps out… How long before it crashes?

We’ve noticed our feeds become less curated and slightly more chronological: this doesn’t seem to be a function of deliberate algorithm changes, but the lack of staff available to do routine maintenance and bug fixing.

It’s where news stories break. The immediacy of the platform means that news often starts on Twitter and removes the gap (and filter) between the events happening and the audience. Politicians and celebrities alike announce news on Twitter before anywhere else.

It’s where people get key information in a crisis, where people have (or watch) the side conversation about culturally significant moments. It’s created crucial visibility for more diverse and inclusive viewpoints. It connects journalists and publishers with lesser-known sources, experts, and research to illuminate their stories. Equally, anyone could in theory have a direct line into influential people who control politics and the media. It’s a great leveller.

The hashtag #journorequest is used on average 288 times a day on Twitter in the UK (which incidentally doesn’t seem to be slowing down since Elon Musk’s takeover), so it’s a no-brainer for PR and Comms professionals to be there to respond to them.

Twitter is uniquely brilliant for journalism, local news, and PR, so it’s hard to imagine this sector without it.

Should my business or brand still be on Twitter?

Don’t write Twitter off completely just yet… Keep a light touch Twitter strategy in your plans for next year and continue to monitor the situation.

Don’t go completely silent

You may pull back the frequency of your tweets, but don’t stop completely (especially if your competitors have). If other brands are pulling back, it may work in your favour and enable better cut through, during this instability. Repurpose content you’re creating for other platforms, rather than spend lots of time originating content just for Twitter: blog posts, LinkedIn and newsletter content would work well.

Signpost your audience to other platforms (or better yet, a mailing list)

This is another wakeup call that no marketing or comms strategy should be over-reliant on platforms where you don’t make the rules and have limited control. Broaden your social footprint and make sure that you’re not solely dependent on Twitter to reach your audience. If you have an engaged and loyal audience on this platform, signpost them to your other platforms or better still, a mailing list (because you control that channel), where you can continue your dialogue with them. First party relationships are increasingly important for future-proofing your comms strategy.

Spend your marketing budget elsewhere

Review your advertising strategy if you have one. Weekly bookings for advertising are currently down 49% as lots of businesses are pulling their ad spend while the platform is in flux. We’d recommend pausing your Twitter ads and channeling that budget to a better performing channel. Instagram and TikTok are currently claiming the majority of marketers’ ad spend.
Review key metrics and performance. You’ll have your own benchmarks of what good looks like for your business account. What are key metrics telling you – is your reach dropping? Is engagement dropping?

Back up important information, assets, and media

It’s a treasure trove of data, information, research, and experts. Back up any important tweets or media files. We’ve noticed journalists mention back up screenshots of posts where they would usually embed tweets – so is it a reasonable assumption that embedded tweets on media sites will stop working if Twitter goes down?