This last week I’ve had a growing list of clients choosing to leave Twitter/X.
Some have asked for advice before doing so, others are resolute they want nothing to do with it any more and want links removed from websites.
This is in light of it becoming a hostile space with no checks/moderation in place, disinformation spread without fear of reprisal and described as ‘a Billionaires playground’ and ‘hellspace’ which I can’t disagree with.

Leaving statements I’ve read include “….the platform X/Twitter is currently not a safe, healthy or inclusive environment to engage and interact with our communities, and does not reflect our values…”

But for some organisations they are staying. This is where their audience still is, or they want to challenge the echo chamber being created rather than existing in silos, or find it still useful in emergency use or for monitoring topics. Funders are very much still present, along with journalists, policymakers, public bodies and others of influence.

However the overall trend in my opinion is only going one way – downhill, and I suspect this growing exodus will become a flood of charities leaving shortly.

As a comms person it’s certainly becoming of less value for my clients, with declining levels of engagement, falling users and difficult to measure the value as analytics have been removed for free accounts.

If you’re undecided, then for now consider keeping a watching brief on the situation, and a recalibration of how you use the account rather than abandoning it altogether.

Ready to jump?

Be aware some charities have faced a backlash on X when making their announcement, some are unpleasant comments and others raise the point about free speech. Other charities have put a statement on their website or newsletter. You could just slip out the door quietly and put a note in your profile biography to say where else you can be found on other platforms.

Where is X linked?

Consider if you do want to leave where you might have it linked and how you’ll remove it:
– Your website (you might have a live X feed, or more likely the icon embedded in your header/footer that only your designer can remove)
– Email signatures
– Mailchimp/email marketing templates
– Word templates
– Graphic design templates e.g. Canva,
– Posters, flyers

What to do instead?

It goes back to a message I regularly bang on about – pay greatest attention to your core digital tools that you control. This is your website and email marketing. Then find out where your audience is – this might be refocusing efforts on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram for example.

If you’re still undecided whether to stay or go, here are a couple of good articles weighing up the pros and cons.

A few months old but raises good points:
https://lnkd.in/eDCaQgZx
Public Sector focused but still relevant:
https://lnkd.in/esfMvSPa