By Sarah Goldfarb, Managing Director of Social Media & Digital Content
Usually when you type a question like the one above into a search engine, you are looking for a yes or no answer. But, like with all things to do with social media and higher ed, it’s more complicated than that. Let’s work through this question with some other questions that can help you arrive at an answer.
What would you say your audience is on Twitter?
If you answered prospective students, you are probably a bit behind on Gen Z’s user habits.
If you said media, sure, that feels a bit more realistic. And that might be a reason to stay. For now.
According to Elon Musk, Twitter’s DAU (Daily Active Users, so the number of times a mobile app is opened) is still incredibly high - about 250M high. Take that with a grain of salt, but there’s no denying that journalists and news organizations are still actively using the platform. The possible reasons behind that is another post for another day but without a true alternative for Twitter, that is still where many are doing source collecting, story-idea sourcing and more.
Given there’s still an audience on Twitter, should you shift your strategy? The answer is likely yes. Focus on your institution's experts as sources, post content that alumni or community members may find interesting. Keep the Admissions content to a minimum (mostly because the ROI isn’t there).
If you have to prioritize your energy and time, then it makes sense to cut back on the amount of tweets you make.
Getting off the platform completely may be a statement you are committed to making, but the danger there is you are still in charge of reputation management on the platform whether you are on it or not. You need to keep tabs on what is being said about your institution, if others are speaking on your institution’s behalf or pretending to be the institution itself. All legitimate concerns in the Wild West that is Twitter right now.
With NPR officially leaving Twitter earlier this month and advertisers continuing to pull their spending dollars on the platform, we could be in the beginning phases of a slow death.
There’s time for the platform to recover, or momentum could still be building for a drawn-out exodus. We will just have to wait and see.
For now, stay (if you need a yes or no answer). But no need to pay for that blue check that was yanked from you.
