The great X-odus of 2024 has given us a lot to think about.
As many organisations and individuals understandably make the move over to Bluesky, Threads and Instagram, archiving and deleting their Twitter accounts in the process, we've been pondering our own relationship with Elon Musk's app.
Social media has always been a crucial part of The National's strategy. We were a brand new newspaper launching in 2014 – without viral front pages and highly engaging posts, it would have been seriously difficult to develop an audience of loyal readers or make waves within the Scottish media. The first pro-independence daily newspaper had to be seen. It had to be talked about.
Back in the earlier days, Twitter did not deliver the most link clicks. Facebook was the traffic driver, actually. But everyone in Scottish politics was on Twitter, and so our best stories were picked up by journalists, academics, commentators ... all helping to expand our reach.
We have a substantial social media presence these days, and Twitter is just one part of the mix. On TikTok, we just had a video reach 11 million views this past week. On our Instagram we're reaching millions of users every month. We're experimenting with Threads and Bluesky, and always keen to try out other forms of social media when they emerge.
But despite the variety of platforms available to us now, the demise of Twitter is incredibly sad. Of all social media, it was the best for following live news events, finding untold stories and starting a conversation. To see it run into the ground by capitalism's cringiest super-villain, filled with excessive bot use and malicious disinformation is heart-breaking.
Is the answer to leave altogether? The Guardian certainly thought so, announcing its departure this week and stating: "The benefits of being on X are now outweighed by the negatives and ... resources could be better used promoting our journalism elsewhere." Publishers across Europe are following suit.
By staying on Twitter, are legitimate publications part of the problem? Can we complain about how disinformation thrives and the worst grifters get all the engagement when we keep opening up the app, scrolling and posting?
I'm not sure yet. For now, The National's position is this: If all the people who care about truth, justice and fairness leave the platform, we are silencing ourselves. If we give up, we allow the disinformation and extremism to win.
We want people to continue seeing our stories on independence, on important progressive topics, our front pages and articles drawing attention to Gaza. We don't want to willingly participate in the removal of all left-leaning voices from the platform. We have so few representatives in the UK media or within politics as it is. So, we choose to stay and fight. For now.
That may change, and our subscribers will be the first to hear about it.
No judgement if you can't stomach Twitter anymore. It is not for everyone. If that's you, can keep up with us on all our other accounts like Bluesky, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.
