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Meet Social Shifts with Patience
Anyone who uses social media even casually can tell you the landscape is constantly shifting. However, rarely do things change so suddenly as when the platform formally known as Twitter changed its name to X at the end of July. A month later, we’re still fielding questions about what the change means for the utilities we support.
For X and any other changes in the social landscape, Pioneer follows three tried-and-true steps.
1. Pause
With changes big or small, our first move is to pause and learn as much about the change as we can.
2. Assess
We ask ourselves if or how this change could affect the best practices we set for our work supporting Pioneer’s members.
3. Start Small
We implement adapted best practices on our own channels or those of a few members until we’re ready to roll them out more broadly.
In the case of X we’re still in the assessment phase, largely because, at the time of this publication, the company has yet to release full brand standards. The toolkit X released remains too bare bones for Pioneer to feel comfortable moving forward into implementation.
Another factor playing into our decision making is the platform’s URL. At the time of this publication, the website for X is still Twitter.com. When typing ‘x.com/utilitypioneers,’ to access our own account, we are redirected to twitter.com/utilitypioneers.
Out of respect for X’s brand and our members’ brands, we’re waiting to begin updating website widgets or making any other changes until the new brand has time to mature and releases complete guidelines.
There are also whispers that X is preparing to launch features other than what we’re now referring to as posting.
Changes we’re following:
- Live streaming, something Twitter offered until 2021, is returning to X, rebranded as Broadcasts.
- Downplaying links to outside content, X will only show an image preview, no longer including preview text or a header.
Be prepared for more changes and stay tuned to Pioneer. Your friendly neighborhood social media experts will be here to give you the guidance you count on.
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Learn more on our Pioneer Social page or schedule time with us to see this communication solution in action.