Speculation, whispers from former employees and a flurry of Tweets from Elon Musk make it hard to figure out if Twitter is going through a particularly chaotic transition or on the verge of shutting down.
But Twitter’s fate doesn’t just affect your nightly doomscroll. Companies and brands of all types rely on Twitter to get their messages out. As you try to make sense of what the future looks like for your company or organization’s pages, here are some suggestions to help you navigate Twitter’s uncertain future.
- Download your Twitter data.
This is the “just in case” precaution. Downloading your Twitter data will give you offline access to assets like your tweets, advertising data, photos and videos, direct messages, likes and lists. This download may be helpful in order to have old campaign data to look back on, or if you just want to be nostalgic for Twitter’s glory days.
This information can be requested by clicking the following on your account:
Click “Settings and Support” → “Settings and privacy” → “Your account” → “Download an archive of your data.”
The data may take a day or so to be aggregated. Twitter will give you a notification when your archive is ready to download.
- Hesitate before deleting your account.
Don’t try to hop on a life boat – if Twitter goes down, we recommend going down with it.
Deleting your account puts your Twitter handle, or user name, on the open market and available to anyone who claims it for their own. Deleting your account risks having someone else use your brand’s likeness or name, and you may lose the opportunity to join Twitter again with your old handle. So, we recommend keeping your account live on the platform while Twitter finds stability.
If you decide you no longer align with Twitter and are ready to leave the platform behind for good, you are able to delete your account here.
- Update your Twitter bio.
If you are active on other social media sites, add your handles or links to your non-Twitter profiles in your bio. This way, your followers will have an easy way to stay connected, even if they’re looking for other venues to support their favorite creators and brands.
- Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
This would remain true even if Twitter was smooth sailing. Having active accounts on multiple social media sites provides different outlets for your content. Different segments of your target audiences may live on different platforms, so it’s important to reach your audiences where they are.
Not only is this sound advice for optimizing your content, but Twitter is not the first social media site to have seen better days. The assumption that these platforms will be here forever is flawed, and it’s critical for your business or nonprofit to be ready to adapt to the ever-changing social landscape.
Could your company use a hand with media relations, social media management, internal communications, or issues management? Learn more about the services we offer here, and let us know how we can help at resteasy@devinepartners.com.
