Introducing the [Name Goes Here] newsletter: Looking towards the future of Digital, Communications, Innovation, and everything in between

Wow, so here we are! Issue number one of the [Name Goes Here] newsletter. This is not the permanent name: it is a placeholder title until I launch some grander plans in the New Year. I like it, for the moment, and I hope you do too...

So, what are we here for?

Here we are aiming to take a semi-regular look into the areas of Digital, Communications, Innovations, and pretty much anything in between.

Since those terms are vague and malleable, we shall almost definitely also delve into subjects including A.I., Social (and Anti-Social) Media, P.R., Marketing, Online Culture, The Wider Internet, and a whole lot more. This interrelated world evolves and/or disintegrates at a rate of knots, and so shall we. (Evolve, I mean.)

In general we will look at all this from more of a professional/business perspective, looking to provide some nice wee takeaways no matter whoever you are or work for.

And if you don't know me, some initial credentials:

• In another age I regularly wrote for The Herald and STV, with bylines in The Times and other great publications
• In recent years I have worked in senior positions –?generally around those subject areas mentioned above –?for the likes of Red Bull, Brunswick, and ITN, learning from some amazing individuals in the process
• In recent years I have also been involved in the charity sector, founding and leading some great organisations including Covid Aid (its award-winning Support Community now run by members) as well as Cancer Support Scotland (find out more about them and donate here)

What can you expect?

Aims and ground rules:

• I love newsletters which are informed and shaped by their readers. The hope is for this to be a collaborative venture –?on that note, please do comment and feedback whenever you can. Thanks!
• We will be unafraid to look at more serious subjects, but also look to have fun and provide some escapism to liven up your day
• There should be at least a few tangible takeaways from each edition, to both entertain and inform (there's that BBC training coming to the fore)
• Your time is limited, and so while I do love to ramble, I will employ my journalistic training to maintain a balance and remain relatively concise

And on that timely note, let's pause there. Thoughts and feedback also welcome on these, especially as the newsletter takes shape.

Twitter/X: Should You Stay or Should You Go?

On to the main subject of this edition. The rollercoaster of Twitter/X had already felt sickly enough over the past year, even before things escalated over the past couple of weeks –?causing further headaches for any organisations with an active presence on the platform (or those with work-related profiles).

Already in hot water over comments which had caused major advertisers to flee, Elon Musk on Wednesday told advertisers to ‘go f*** yourselves’.

This is after all manner of erratic and/or troublesome and/or loathsome behaviour which it would take several hours –?and thousands of intricate diagrams – to adequately summarise. Suffice to say, those in charge of brand/executive accounts on Twitter/X are once again agonising over the best course of action.

A few thoughts on this:

• There is a fundamental difference between posting and advertising on a platform: The latter helps the platform’s business model, while the former – although it admittedly does slightly aid platform numbers – is primarily an acknowledgement that there are people on there that you want to reach (most of whom themselves signed up before the new owner was in place). It is not an endorsement of Elon Musk's leadership in itself, and a stronger case can be made for continuing in a means which promotes your own voice while not becoming culpable for whichever wayward turn Twitter/X takes next
• Advertising on Twitter/X has rarely been a priority anyway: A small fish with a small audience compared to Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn/TikTok/etc, those and other social competitors were already the better options for promotion –?and are even more so, in ensuring that you can feel safer in where the ads will end up
• Be where your audience is: In its own way, this is not too dissimilar from the usual business of determining where you ought to have a social media presence, whether as an individual or as a company. The largest determinant of this is generally figuring out where your audience is,?and how you can best reach and engage them. With user numbers on Twitter/X reportedly in decline, it is worth looking at your own stats and then figuring out what balance makes sense at this time?–?and when you might want to dial down your commitment
• Be where it feels fun: Running social media channels involves plenty of juggling resource, and figuring out how to best prioritise. You want to create and maintain enthusiasm, to pass that on to the audience. Why spend more time than you need running defence, when it comes at the expense of more positive (and likely beneficial) activity? Take the opportunity to instead launch on Threads and have some fun experimenting –?even if the audience is not initially the same size, things will feel fresher and provide inspiration which you can then take to other channels
• Threads is the more vibrant place to be: It is very far from perfect, but Meta's Threads continues to grow since its summer launch, with tens of millions of active users. New features are regularly introduced, it gets a bump every time Twitter/X stumbles (as their primary competitor), and soon it will be available to European audiences, which could mark a fundamental pivot point towards the platform. At the moment the momentum feels like it's only heading in one direction, so start building now for the future –?and don't find yourself late to the party. (Given their much smaller size, other alternatives such as Bluesky/Mastodon are only worth consideration at the moment if you know for a fact that a decent section of your audience are there)
• Cross-posting FTW: Finally, you can communicate to your audience on Twitter/X without spending any more time than you need to. There are a host of social publishing tools which reduce time spent posting to multiple platforms –?with that in mind it can be worth posting to an existing channel on Twitter/X when it takes up little of your day (knowing it will have some beneficial reach), then focussing on your other priority channels for getting more involved on the engagement/growth side

The way things are going, there will be some more twists and turns in the weeks ahead, but with 2024 approaching it is ultimately worth taking a longer-term look at everything you've been doing and thinking: is this worth it? It's a simple question – one which Elon himself ought to be bearing in mind.

One more thing: Going ‘more more more’ with OpenAI

One of my favourite things of the past week was this:

Naturally I hopped on to ChatGPT 4, and not to be too stereotypical prompted ‘Create an image of a haggis climbing to the top of Scotland's highest mountain’. I then said ‘more’, ‘still not enough’, and ‘more please’.

Image 1 –?Which has a lovely Aardman vibe:

Image 2 –??Nice sneaks, and an expression much like my own while ascending the Scottish peaks (and therefore my favourite):

Image 3 –?Not sure if I have lost it by this point, but I could see this as the cover for a particularly poorly selling children’s book:

Image 4 –?Behold and tremble at the sight of your new god:

If that isn’t worth the price of Chat GPT Pro subscription, I surely don’t know what is.

If there is a lesson from this trend, it is surely to remember that with A.I. – although there are good reasons to worry about its potential and all the myriad implications it contains –?it is also healthy to have fun, play around with it to get hands-on experience, and to remember the more positive possibilities. (Not all of which have to feature unhinged hiking haggis.)

...and until next time

This is all very new for me. I feel like Bambi at the start of the eponymous movie, except more weary, and somehow more anxious despite being in far less mortal peril (so I hope).

With that in mind, I would be enormously gratified if you can pass on this newsletter to anyone who may be interested –?new connections are always welcome. Any positive feedback and/or help shall also be massively appreciated, and please do get in touch if you want a chat about anything in this sort of ballpark. Thanks and speak again soon.