Is it time for education institutions to leave X?

In recent months, there have been many brands and organisations reconsidering their presence on X (formerly known as Twitter). Last year, high-profile names such as Apple, Disney and Universal pulled their advertising from the platform citing concerns over its direction and opinions that have been publicly shared by new leadership.

In the last few hours, we’ve seen the first accounts from the education sector cease activity on X, raising the question: is it time for the education sector to leave the platform entirely?

Why are organisations leaving X/Twitter?

The transformation of X has been significant under its current leadership.

Twitter used to be the place for open dialogue and community building but X has been a platform increasingly associated with controversy and spreading misinformation.

For many organisations, these issues and concerns may be conflicting with their values.

Will we soon see a mass exit of education institutions from X?

The same concerns that have driven organisations outside of the sector away from the platform are very relevant to education institutions.

It’s important to think about how X is still used by your audiences. X remains one of the top places for real-time updates and handling complaints. While engagement has decreased, it’s still a valuable place for emergency communications and managing or preventing crises.

In recent times we have seen an increase of protests, campaigning and strikes within university communities. X has been one of the places to see movements unfold, allowing institutions to monitor and potentially mitigate situations in real-time.

But this raises another question: is it more reputationally damaging to still be active and associated with X?

Should you deactivate your account or cease activity?

If you’re considering leaving X, there are two main options:

• Deactivating your account: permanently closing your account.

• Ceasing activity: stop posting content and engaging on X, but the account would remain live.

A number of organisations have completely deactivated their accounts on X whereas others have ceased activity.

As of today, Jisc have announced they are ceasing activity on their X account and their other Jisc-owned accounts too. They issued a statement, which is now pinned to each profile, and updated their bios to reflect this change.

If leaving X is something you’re considering, ceasing activity might be the wiser decision. It allows you to maintain your account’s presence, protecting your brand identity and preventing misuse of your account name and logo, which could happen if the account is deactivated and the handle becomes available.

My main advice? Speak to your audience.

Are they still actively using the platform?

Do they view organisations differently if they’re active on X?

How do they feel about the values of the platform and do they feel they conflict with yours?