This is our first issue of The Social Minute, a regular feature from RW Jones that offers our partners a quick look at some happenings in the social media/digital space.
Twitter: The gray area
We all watched in horror (and a bit of amusement) last week when a slew of snarkers paid the $8-a-month Twitter Blue subscription and started imitating brand accounts with sometimes offensive and false tweets. The plan was later rolled back by Twitter, but Elon Musk has committed to re-rolling it out on Nov. 29, meaning the once-coveted blue check marks will display for those who are paying, and an official gray label instead will be shown on select verified accounts. Gray labels are currently appearing in very inconsistent ways: In the higher ed space, we've noticed some college sports teams or schools within universities have official labels when the main college accounts don't (yet?). RWJ Social is monitoring the rollout and the impact it will have for our campuses. Stay tuned.
What in the world is Mastodon? Many in academia have been running to the social media platform. It launched in 2016 but has grown rapidly in the past couple of weeks and is experiencing some growing pains as users flood different servers that are managed by various individuals. Our suggestion for social higher ed media managers: Learn your way around the app — that's where many of your well-known faculty may be headed — but it certainly hasn't been determined yet if this is a universal replacement for Twitter, especially as security issues are being discovered and the decentralized nature of the platform has made it tough for many to navigate.
Like many of you, I am struggling with the implosion of Twitter. I've spent 13 years on the platform, so breaking up is hard to do (and I'm staying for now). But here's a reminder: We don't own any of the social media platforms. We are merely paying rent (time, resources and sometimes money), but we have no equity and apparently our lease can end without a 60-day notice. This is a lesson to not abandon what we do own: Our website, our email messages, in-person interactions and relationships with our communities.
November is cruising by: It's time to start planing holiday and Year in Review content for your channels. Will you be repurposing your institution's holiday card for social media? Make sure it's optimized and not just a copy+paste of a print piece. Do you have moments throughout the year you'd love to celebrate again? Consider a quick highlight reel or a collection of curated images for a carousel post. Don't get caught figuring this out while wrapping other year-end projects, so here's your reminder to start the conversations now.
Around the socials
> TikTok publishes The Discover List for 2022, highlighting 50 creators > Instagram launches in-app post scheduling for professional accounts > LinkedIn releases overview of its ad offerings for businesses
RWJ Social helps higher ed institutions shape social strategy through a variety of services, including influencer engagement, benchmarking, monitoring and more.
