Why the General Election shows Twitter/X still matters for news

2024 election campaign use of Twitter: Rishi Sunak tweet: You will always be better at spending your own money than the government is.

There’s been a lot of talk about TikTok and the power of video in this General Election campaign (yes, that includes from me) but not much on Twitter/X and the power of words, and their ability to make news.

I found these tweets from Rishi Sunak initially, followed a couple of days later by a similar one from Keir Starmer, really interesting:

  1. They go against conventional wisdom that you must have a visual element to a social post for it to be seen and engaged with.
  2. They are simple, clear, powerful one line statements, which aim to sum up their view, be it on a belief, issue or a policy. We’ve seen a lot of this with inspirational sayings going viral on Instagram, and sayings about business and life being liked a lot on LinkedIn.
  3. Like many successful social strategies, they are aimed to generate a reaction – you may feel passionately wanting to advocate this view, or you may be so aghast that you share it and make clear your opposition to it. But that helps spread it beyond their followers to reach more people, and be shown up more on the For You tab on Twitter.
  4. It shows how important Twitter is to their campaigns in engaging politically active users, reinvigorating their supporters, and appealing to journalists and opinion-formers.

 

Why Twitter/X is still important in news and communications

Twitter/X still matters: Sunday Sport tweet: There is a strong argument for British Twitter being the most British thing about Britain. 24 hour pisstaking, It's fucking glorious.

Twitter (I still call it that) has been written off a lot in the turbulent time since Elon Musk took over, but it is proving to still be influential and a platform you can’t ignore from a comms/media perspective.

We know that most voters aren’t actively on Twitter/X, but it is still the place where mainstream news, memes and debate tends to start, to then be picked by up and amplified or turned into a story by the media.

The election campaign seems to have reinvigorated users, reacting to the news, policies and bloopers that have come up these past few weeks.

Ofcom Online Nation reportsurvey: Top social media services among UK adults

As Ofcom’s 2023 Media Nations report showed, Twitter is still a way behind other social apps used by adults in the UK, and may soon be overtaken by TikTok.

But it was interesting to see a study from the Pew ResearchCenter in the US that X is still more of a destination for news than other social platforms for Americans  – by that, I mean most Twitter users go there specifically for news, although others also see news passively in their Instagram, TikTok and Facebook feeds.

Pew Research Center report: Twitter/X remains more of a news destination than other sites, but the vast majority of users on all four are seeing news-related content

My use of X has certainly changed over recent years (I tend to use more lists than the main feed), but it still helps me get a snapshot or insight into news and topics, both personally and professionally.

The main political parties know a tweet can still influence journalists, decision makers and opinion formers more than TikTok – often I’ve seen TikToks go more viral on Twitter than where they originally came from!

But like TikTok, it won’t be Twitter Wot Won It. Organisations need to have a strategic multiplatform approach, tailored to different audiences and channels, both owned and social. It’s a far more fragmented, complex and competitive media landscape than in any other election before.