What will happen to political Twitter if the app dies?
Image from Unsplash from user dole777
Twitter is a great source of information about what elected officials are saying, how they might be connected, and who could be influential in a network.
But what happens if Elon Musk kills the app? And what should those working in politics do about it?
Here are the five big takeaways. Keep reading for a deeper explanation.
We don’t know if Musk will destroy Twitter, but the fact that we’re asking this means it’s more likely than a month ago.
Elected officials are already on other social media apps but those will have a challenge seamlessly taking over from Twitter.
If you’re trying to get your message out, prepare for Twitter’s decline by diversifying your outlets.
If you’re trying to follow the news, be proactive about where your information comes from and set up routines to replace the scroll.
Legislata can help fill some of the gap left by Twitter. Sign up or schedule a demo
Will it actually die?
First things first. Will Elon Musk’s so-far shambolic management of the platform actually lead to its demise? Let’s set out the main arguments.
It’ll be fine
Social networks are incredibly sticky. Reddit was almost completely neglected by management when it was owned by Conde Nast but kept adding users throughout.
What’s happened at Twitter is pretty minor from a core product standpoint. There has been a lot of drama but the app is functioning as ever. It’s financially interesting but the users will be unaffected.
Elon Musk is the world’s richest man for a reason. It may not always be pretty, but he’ll find a way to make Twitter even better.
It’ll be gone soon
Elon Musk has no idea what he’s doing. Social media is different than his past companies in finance or manufacturing. His past performance is no indication of future success.
Social media popularity can drop off quickly. Just ask MySpace and Friendster.
The business model has taken irreparable damage. Musk has driven off advertisers, the subscription numbers don’t add up, and there’s now a billion dollars per year in debt payments. Losing employees means it’s only a matter of time before performance fails. It’s the Titanic, post-iceberg and pre-sinking.
I don’t know what the right answer is. It seems inconceivable that the networks built on Twitter, especially the political, could be unwound so quickly. It was on Twitter, of course, that many of the most popular analysts were discussing the results of the midterms on Election Night.
Then again, Silicon Valley abhors a vacuum. If Musk is flailing, there are plenty of other companies who are happy to swoop in and steal users or build rival products. It wouldn’t be surprising in retrospect if the Twitter takeover is seen as the new AOL-Time Warner merger, a deal made at the height of a bubble built on bad fundamentals.
Alternate social networks
Elected officials are already on other social networks. The above image is from Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s official YouTube page and she, like other Members of Congress, is also on Facebook and Instagram.
If Twitter dies, couldn’t everyone just use those platforms more?
Yes and no.
There’s a reason why Twitter is the primary social media app for politics. It is designed for short statements, which is often what’s needed to express approval or opposition to an issue. It’s built for virality, allowing an elected official’s tweet to rapidly spread through networks. It’s makes it easy to follow lots of people talking in public. And it has journalists on the site, who are often the primary audience for those statements.
A comparison with the other major social media apps shows where they fall flat:
Facebook was the first major social media platform for elected officials - and is still used by more in many places. But the news of the world is mixed in with updates from family and friends when you log in which makes the goal of the platform different from the more public nature of Twitter.
LinkedIn is getting increasingly similar to Twitter, but doesn’t yet have the same culture of debate and discussion.
Instagram isn’t built for virality to the same extent nor back-and-forth conversations.
YouTube doesn’t lend to the text-based statements that underpin politics. One Member of Congress chosen at random has a YouTube page where many of the videos have fewer than 10 views.
TikTok is the fastest growing social media app - but the FBI director recently called it a national security threat.
Reddit is great for political news, but it’s oriented towards discussion and voting on posts, not a scrollable list of what people have said.
Mastodon is the closest app to Twitter, but it’s clunkier and I haven’t yet seen any elected official make the move there.
Apps for user-generated content in private groups (WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord) are hugely important in the broader social media conversation about misinformation, but by their closed nature can’t replace the public accessibility of Twitter.
Until a closer high-performance rival comes out, I’d expect that most electeds will stay on Twitter, while also posting content elsewhere to see what works. Legislata can fill some of the gap left by Twitter (more on that below), but we’re not aiming to be a full-scale social media site.
Managed decline
So what should you do if you’re a political professional and Twitter is too big to fail and too creaky to rely on?
Diversify your portfolio for message distribution
Rather than relying on one app, put effort into a variety of platforms. That may mean creating and growing accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
I’d recommend acquainting yourself with Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts. Those are the TikTok clones and will be best positioned if the federal government bans it or forces divestment that may cripple that app.
But this also applies to other forms of communication. Create an email newsletter that is regularly released. Post it to a website. And, of course, all statements can be loaded into a Public Office in Legislata so people can easily read and search for what you want them to know.
Be proactive with your news consumption
Scrolling through Twitter in the morning can feel like an easy way of catching up with what’s happening. It was never the best way to read the news, given the potential for informational bubbles to develop naturally and the incentives of the algorithm. But with a well-curated feed and an awareness of its limitations, it’s not a bad choice.
If important accounts start leaving the site, its value will drop.
Rather than assuming that most necessary news will reach your timeline, you can now perform an audit of where your important news actually comes from. Particular newspapers? Certain newsletters? A community site?
Make a plan for checking each one in the morning. You can also see if there are RSS feeds that you can bring into an RSS reader. If anything relevant is on Legislata, you can set up notifications and have them appear in your daily digest email.
Engage with your network elsewhere
If you have people you regularly communicate with via Twitter DM, get their WhatsApp or Signal number now so you can stay in touch even if the app goes away.
If you’re an elected official who engages with constituents via Twitter, be sure to direct everyone to your official email. This is especially useful if the app starts to deteriorate and you visit it much less.
How we can help
Legislata is an open informational platform for politics and policy. You can sign up, create an Office (our term for workspace), make it public, and use that to share all your statements. You can also join one of our existing Public Offices to share your statements or comments on others. It has elements of a Twitter account, Facebook Group, or Slack Channel, designed for how we in politics work.
We are also happy to help you better navigate your twitterverse. We benchmark your profile against your peers and check whether you’re in an informational bubble. It’s entirely done with public data, so there’s no need for you to hand over any passwords or credentials.
You can read more about that service here or book a review right away.