Life Beyond Twitter

Many government agencies have come to rely on Twitter to get information out — especially time-dependent notices, from snow days and street closings to flood warnings and Amber alerts.

But recent changes in Twitter policies, as well as the platform’s technical stability, have left some agencies looking for alternatives, such as Mastodon and Bluesky, and leaning more heavily on old standbys like Facebook and Instagram.

So far, none of the options fully reproduces the features of old Twitter, such as being able to read tweets without signing in; free, reliable verification of identity; effective disinformation policies; straightforward analytic data; and an easy back-and-forth with constituents through comments and mentions.

Those capabilities made Twitter the place many people looked to first for government announcements.

A Trail of Breadcrumbs

Agencies have tried to adapt to the new Twitter. Many have added links to their websites and other social media accounts to their Twitter profiles if they hadn’t already. Some agencies don’t post to Twitter as often as they used to.

The “very online” Washington Emergency Management account offers a pinned tweet thread outlining how to tell whether a government account is what it says it is, and a caveat that its Twitter account is not monitored 24/7.

Right now, access to tweets is limited for those without accounts.

Every such change sends more users to other platforms. But that’s the problem — it’s other platforms, plural. They’re not all in one place.

What About Threads?

Meta (formerly Facebook) is promoting its brand-new platform, Threads, as a potential Twitter successor. According to one publication, over 250 agencies joined the app in its first 24 hours, along with some 100 million users in the first week.

Some of that is doubtless because Threads is linked to Instagram, so it’s relatively easy to create an account if you’re already on that app, opening the door to 143 million U.S. users and some two billion worldwide.

In fact, an Instagram account is required to set up shop on Threads, and, like Instagram, you can’t browse or search without signing in. Threads is also currently available only for mobile devices — iOS and Android — with no desktop version.

It also asks for access to so much personal information that it’s not allowed in the European Union, which has more stringent privacy requirements.

Those limitations mean Threads is not, so far, a solid replacement for government Twitter. Whether it will become one remains to be seen.

Managing Multiples

For agencies that choose to remain on Twitter but also post to other appropriate social networks, managing the various platforms can be challenging.

But social media management apps can make that easier.

Some, like Linktree, allow you to put a single link in your account bio (on Twitter and elsewhere) that leads to a list of your other social media accounts. Others, like Hootsuite, Sprout, Social Pilot, and others let you post the same post to several platforms at once and receive comments and analytics from them in a single dashboard.

An array of social media options gives your community its best chance of finding you.

Image by Thomas Ulrich from Pixabay