Chances are you found this piece via social media.
Thank goodness for small miracles.
And if you work in any communications sector, chances are you’ve talked about social media today. Maybe you’ve even banged your head against the wall because of it.
Since the advent of these platforms, this may be the most challenging moment that communicators have experienced trying to reach audiences with them. That is especially the case with those oriented to consumers, as things are relatively vibrant and stable on LinkedIn, which has a business-to-business focus.
With everybody else, who do you trust? Anyone?
For starters, TikTok could be banned by the end of the weekend.
On top of that, X (Twitter for we traditionalists, so to speak), is Elon Musk’s $44 billion propaganda tool as he tries to assert himself as a de facto head of state. Meanwhile, it’s a magnet for antisemitism and other hate speech, on top of generally rude and/or disinformative posts. What used to be an effective communications tool for many of our clients, and the best media relations technology ever developed, has transformed into something not worth the anywhere close to the time and attention it commanded for PR a few years ago.
And then there’s Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram and well as Threads, which was supposed to be the X rival but it’s hard to see any business communications successes on there, amid users posting their COVID symptoms and city rankings (at least that’s what it shows me from the random accounts it selects).
As has been well-reported, Meta leadership announced last week that in an effort to stay out of trouble with the incoming federal executive branch administration, they won’t fact check anymore and will unfurl the full complement of political takes from people you don’t know, on top of those from those you already see from those you barely know. Company founder Mark Zuckerberg wrote that users of these platforms actually want more politics on there: “People want to be able to discuss civic topics and make arguments that are in the mainstream of political discourse, etc.” A company executive went on Fox News and said, among other things with a straight face, that the President Elect “really believes in free expression.” There’s no word on whether he was crossing his fingers behind his back when making that pronouncement.
Still, the fact remains that if you’re trying to use Facebook, in particular, to deliver PR-type messages to your audiences, Mark Zuckerberg may as well be Paulie Cicero from “Goodfellas” (for the uninitiated, it’s basically “pay up for else”). It remains challenging for all of us trying to bust through the algorithm with content our audiences tell us they want to know, even with pet or kid photos, thanks to the business model and now, potentially, a deeper sea of politics.
Some are hoping for brighter days with Bluesky. We look forward to seeing some case studies, at some point, about how the platform can be used for brands or whether it’s just a place for people to share opinions and maybe a little news, while yearning for the nostalgia of Twitter circa 2010.
Things are tough trying to communicate to audiences via traditional media. Now add social media to the list of challenges. Trust is at a premium. To get a message to an audience, we have to think of every plausible way to get it there.