Much like when Google+ was slowly being dismantled, with Twitter becoming less useful each day there is a rise in the hot new thing in social media. The irony is most of the comments seem to be about the search for what Twitter & Instagram *used* to be.

After G+ went away I took a few months off from all social media. I didn’t want to return to the drama of Facebook, and never really warmed to Instagram. By the time they allowed Android users in, it was too late.

I did slowly warm to Twitter though. Until recently I mostly used it for personal reasons, but in the last year have found a great group of fellow Marketers and Freelancers to chat, laugh, and learn from.

Then… well “stuff” happened to Twitter. That’s well documented elsewhere, and it’s clearly not functioning technically nor socially like it used to.

Hence the rise in alternatives, again.

I’ve tried both BlueSky and Threads in the last day, and both are interesting. Threads gives you the advantage of a fuller feed to start with – your Instagram connections are given priority whether you follow them or not. There’s also an algorithm to take much of your choice away. I do not care for it at all, much of the content is fluffy low quality filler posts. Additionally, there’s no easy way to only see the people you follow. You’re forced to scroll past all the irrelevant stuff fed to you by the algorithm.

BlueSky on the other hand gives you so much more control. Some will love that, like me. Others won’t want to put in the time to organically find people. I think both are ok, especially if for personal accounts.

But what about Social for Business?

Both new platforms have a ways to go to make it easy for social media managers. Hopefully Threads will be added to the Meta Business Planner dashboard.

BlueSky is available on desktop which is a nice advantage.

Threads has the advantage of early exposure to followers because of the link to Instagram.

Social media is not the end game for most businesses

Do you need them all?

Probably not.

First and foremost go where your market is and where you’re getting results. It’s generally better to manage one really well, than be spread too thin on many. That doesn’t mean you can’t claim your business name – because you should! If nothing else make a post listing where you are active. To contradict what I just said… results take time on a new platform. If you do like the new ones, invest in the necessary time to build your audience, just like you did years ago on the other platforms.

Will engagement drop on other platforms?

Short term, perhaps. Twitter has been decreasing over the last 6 months or so anyway. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a short term drop in engagement elsewhere as people try out the new shiny toy. Some will stay there, others will drift back to the older ones with more features.

How do I combat the fracturing of Social Media?

Email email email email. Repeat after me: email. Social Media sites will always be making changes, some will be good, some we’ll hate. We’re ALWAYS the product there. Social is still a great way to attract and engage your people. Just be aware and plan for change.

Email marketing on the other hand is our own. Subscribers will see our content as long as they choose to, not as long as an algorithm decides to show it to them. Your message will be there and easily searched for until deleted, not drowned in a sea of other posts.

This varies by business type, but Social Media is rarely the end game for most businesses. Do you want a million followers but very few clicks to buy your product? Or do you want 100 highly engaged buyers? Have you measured the ROI of the time you spend (or hire someone to spend) on social? Is it paying off? Having a plan and objectives will boost the effectiveness of your social profiles.