X has been a historical landing place for breaking news or quick updates for brands and news media.  But as public trust in X as a platform continues to erode and millions of users are projected to leave the platform, what does this shift mean for your brand’s crisis communications?

The truth is, it’s too early to tell if BlueSky or Threads will truly replace the former Twitter for breaking news. But what are social media users turning to when a crisis affects them? You might be surprised.

When a major winter storm impacted 30 states this week, it provided the first test for our hospital to test and measure platform use since the advent of BlueSky and Threads. I was curious if either social media platform would make a difference in crisis communications for our hospital.

Historically, major events impacting services would lead to communications on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Like many organizations, we’ve seen a shift in users from X in recent months, and we wondered what the replacement mode of communication would be.

It wasn’t Threads. It wasn’t BlueSky. It turns out, that social media users went old school to get their information as the weather event unfolded real-time. Here’s a look at how users gathered information:

Facebook sees a surprising jump

Facebook seemed to be the preferred mode of communication during this winter storm. From media outlets to meteorologists to government agencies, posting every hour or two and prompt engagement with comments was the norm.

Meanwhile, our hospital’s Facebook post of outpatient service closings had 3 to 5 times the impressions and 3 to 4 times the engagement rates of the Facebook postings from winter storms in 2022 to 2024.

 

Our lesson? People still want a concise landing space for information. They appreciated our updates and responses to patient questions, and readers wanted sharable slices of information.

X getting the “ex” treatment?

X, the former home of breaking news, was used to some extent by news outlets, meteorologists and state agencies.

But storm-related posts didn’t have the frequency – or the reach – of past years. Even the #inwx hashtag (for Indiana-related weather conditions) was less used, despite up to a third of our state experiencing travel bans due to road conditions.

 

I noted our hospital’s outpatient services closing post got about 1/3 to 1/4 the reach of our posts during previous storms. Additionally, there was no significant bump in impressions or engagement compared with other recent posts. So, while Facebook impressions and engagements were jumping, X was considered the “ex” when it came to news gathering and engagement for our brand.

BlueSky and Threads to replace?

BlueSky and Threads were used on a more limited basis, if at all, by news and government organizations. While some journalists are making the jump from X to BlueSky, many brands haven’t fully embraced these platforms, due to staffing, active platform user counts or other concerns.

As a test, our hospital shared the same information on X, BlueSky and Threads as a baseline test. While the latter two platforms don’t have extended analytics yet or a strong follower base, we did see minimal engagements.

Future of digital crisis communications?

“If not X, then where?” is a common discussion among social media managers when it comes to crisis communications. The answer is unclear. Despite user growth, neither BlueSky nor Threads has hit the critical mass needed for effective crisis communications. Still, it’s worth testing and watching these platforms.

Facebook for now appears to be the default for community-focused crisis communications, due to its large user base and ability to accommodate a variety of formats, from live video to graphics and long-form content.

Know your data, and know your audiences, but don’t be afraid to test and shift as user patterns do.

 

Author: Robbie Schneider, SMS

Connect with Robbie on LinkedIn.