Five reasons for charities to cheerfully leave X
Here's five reasons for charities to be cheerful when leaving X
(With thanks to Ian Dury and the Blockheads)
One: The obvious
X and Elon Musk played a big part in the Trump victory last week, buying both an equally big presence at the heart of the incoming Trump presidency. So having an account on X is now pretty much the same as an account on Truth Social.
Don’t do it.
Two: The content steal.
The sleight of hand played by the social media giants was getting everyone to make content which they then own and exploit. All those followers: they don’t belong to you, they belong to them. All that content: it doesn’t belong to you, it belongs to them. All the monetisation: it’s theirs. Once you step back from the timelines it doesn’t make any sense. It's time to find a way to create, own and control your own content. Just like the web promised at the beginning.
"We can have a different web, if we want it"
Three: There are great alternatives.
A few years ago, when everyone set up their social media accounts, there was no choice beyond the giants. Now there’s plenty. Websites, podcasts and RSS feeds all offer paths beyond the walled gardens. If you’re looking for a public square which creates the best of early Twitter, and makes it better, then Bluesky is jumping right now. And for a thoughtful and engaged form of decentralised, community-led social media, the Fediverse is the place for you. There are lots of committed communities to be found. Elena Rossini has a lovely series of blogs to act as a guide for you. Put all these together and you get a lively, engaging and rewarding alternative to X.
That’s what we’re doing at Channel.org.
Four: Better engagement.
X is tanking, fast. It’s full of right-wing crazies and toxic trolls - not the kind of people you want to engage with. According to the FT, “X/Twitter user numbers in the UK [are] down by almost a third over the last year, and by almost a fifth in the US.” There’s plenty of evidence that smaller follower numbers give greater engagement on either the Fediverse or Bluesky.
In a recent fundraising drive the non-profit publisher ProPublica drew in more donations from the Fediverse alone, than every other social channel.
Five: Our values.
For your organisation, your team and your audience, values matter. As socially responsible organisations and individuals we’ve all put a lot of thought into what our values are, and why we do what we do. It’s time to stand up for those same values in social media. X and Elon Musk do not share those values. Nor do Meta and Mark Zuckerberg.
It’s time to do what’s right, and defend our values. Time to move on.