2025 is the year to finally ditch Twitter

The first time I deleted Twitter was a few years ago on vacation. I spent half a week sitting by a pool, staring at my phone, annoyed at people with the temerity to be wrong on the internet while I was trying to read a book. I deleted the app and spent the rest of the vacation reading happily without an ever-present reminder of everything annoying in the world. A year later I locked myself out of my account entirely, and I’ve never looked back. 

Except for work purposes, of course. The urge for an organization to distill their entire ethos into 280 characters of text remains strong. Until recently, at least, the time-and-dating function of posting a tweet was useful for crisis comms. And, although many of us hate to see it, the brands still want to talk to each other somewhere.

But does it need to be on Twitter? As the now-known-as-X cesspool gets larger and engagement shrinks, we’ve gotten that question from many clients, and we’re here with our final thoughts on the matter – as of January 2025, at least. 

At Pisano Slater, we’ve been recommending that our clients cease their efforts and investment in Twitter. It’s no longer useful as a tool of mass communication, and it might be actively damaging to an otherwise-neutral reputation. Keep your account handle so no one can spoof or take your name, but no need to keep posting. So then, where to?

Let’s face it: personally, I was never going to get rid of social media entirely, and a few years ago I found a new font of community and irritatingly incorrect people to chat and gossip and complain with as an early BlueSky adapter. 

So, that’s my top pick, and the only one of the new text-based replacements that I’ve found to have an almost-comparable level of shitposting, breaking news, expert commentary, and goofing off. It’s not Twitter in its golden years, but neither is Twitter today, and in some ways it might be better. 

The good and the bad: it emphasizes links, has no algorithm unless you want to opt into a curated feed, and sends traffic to media sites at a shocking pace. (Outlets from the Boston Globe to The Guardian to EUObserver reported substantially higher engagement and click-through rates on Bluesky than on other sites, with the Globe in particular noting 4.5x higher conversions to paid subs. Anecdotally, many newsletters writers concur.)

Despite the Bluesky userbase’s reputation for being schoolmarmish, it’s not a particularly safe space for many users from marginalized groups, and there are scandalously few politicians to yell at — although this is starting to change. But at least now you can post somewhere without hearing from Matt Yglesias or Jesse Singal. 

If none of that appeals, though, here’s what else is out there:

• Threads: For the #brands. I saw one person recently lamenting that he no longer hears from his favorite clothing brands and music venues, and ya know, that is one way people do use social media. If that’s you, then Meta’s hybrid Threads-Instagram text-photo behemoth may be your place. For brands, it has a wide but shallow reach and many other companies and influencers to interact with, but come prepared with a budget — you’ll need to pay for boosting to really be seen.

• LinkedIn: for the thought leaders of the world. We’ve seen many work-posters move their commentary and reactions to mostly career-driven topics over to there, and honestly, it’s a good option if you want to keep your image professional. It has great interaction between brand accounts, their leaders and directors, and staff who want to use it. We’d recommend keeping this opt-in for your staffers, though. Some may want to keep their accounts strictly personal and untethered from their management, and we acknowledge that as good advice for those who wish to follow it. LinkedIn even caused a bit of a kerfuffle when posters started discussing their health insurance woes with raw honesty last month. So does it, as they say, have the juice? A tiny bit. 

• Mastodon: for the STEM nerds, and those who love them. If you understand Linux, and can explain what a federated API is to a crowd, you’re probably already on there. For most others, it’s a little complicated to set up, and the reach is on the small side due to the lack of findability and walled-off servers. I can see the appeal for very techy or wonky projects, though. 

• Blessed silence: does all of this make you want to throw your phone into a swimming pool? I don’t blame you! Hire a great firm who knows what they’re doing to take care of it all for you, and you’ll never need to open an app again. 

Want to talk social? Drop us a line at [email protected] and we’d be happy to advise further!

~Annmarie

Oh, and one more thing…

Because the last word is rarely the end of the conversation.

• “They are somewhat dystopian, but so is AI,” is not a response we would recommend giving when your organization’s “stop hiring humans” billboards spark outrage across the nation.

• Aside from being a wonderfully click-inducing headline, “People won’t ‘like’ you” is a good reminder that engaging your audience today looks a lot different than it did in 2015.

• If you have a new book coming out this year, should you write op-eds to promote it? In our experience, the right pitch in the right publication can open interesting doors—but don’t expect it to translate directly into sales. So if it feels bad or schlocky to write, you have our encouragement to skip this new cornerstone of the book marketing playbook.

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