FIR #514: Was Twitter A One-And-Done Phenomenon?

About this episode

The episode discusses the decline of text-based social networks and the implications for communicators.

There’s a concept circulating in Platformer, the Reuters Institute, and Nieman Lab: the text-based social networks that defined the last 15 years of public communication may be in irreversible decline. Apptopia reports that Bluesky’s daily users are down 96% from January 2024; Threads has lost users in seven of the past eight months (down 61% from its October 2024 peak); and X has been “culturally altered.” At its peak, was Twitter less a replicable product category than a unique moment in media history? The mass audience has moved to short-form video, algorithmic feeds reward attention over the social graph, and platforms increasingly refuse to be referral engines. Text still thrives in newsletters, Reddit, Discord, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and AI chat interfaces — what’s collapsing isn’t text, but giant algorithmic public feeds. Neville and Shel look at what this means for communicators: the promise of scale is giving way to relevance, trust, and consistency — a shift that requires a different approach to brand presence on social. Get details in this not-so-short midweek FIR episode. Links from this episode: Are the Twitter clones in trouble? Pew: Americans’…

People in this episode

Hosts: Neville, Shel

Topics covered

• social media decline
• text-based networks
• public communication
• brand presence
• algorithmic feeds
• short-form video

Keywords

• Twitter
• Bluesky
• Threads
• X
• social media
• public feeds
• communication
• brand presence

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Platformer, Reuters Institute, Nieman Lab, Apptopia, Bluesky, Threads

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