The Rest is Silence?

Twitter audiences and users haven’t yet moved en masse to a new platform, but other services like Mastodon are getting more attention. And with "critical" technical teams inside Twitter resigning, brands should begin to think about a post-Twitter universe. But until large groups of opinion elites leave the platform, it will still have value.

Brands should evaluate new platforms on a rolling basis while monitoring conversation and content performance on Twitter. Consider preemptively securing handles on new platforms. In making platform decisions, consider: 

• Where is my audience? 

• What am I looking to achieve with my audience on this platform?

• Which spaces fit my brand and content?

Twitter Recommendations

• Prepare your audiences for change. Be ready to notify your followers where they can reach you, including other social handles and links to newsletter subscription pages. Consider thanking followers for their support on Twitter.

• Remain vigilant. Monitor follower count, engagement and key conversations to see if your priority audiences are migrating. 

• Download your data. Preserve your data and historical content through Settings and Support > Settings and privacy > Your account > Download an archive of your data.

• Monitor brand and campaign mentions for paid verified impersonator accounts—and make sure you’re not engaging with possible impersonators.

• Ready response plans and/or holding statements in the event of a viral impersonation and report the violation to Twitter. 

• Approach paid verification with caution once Musk relaunches Twitter Blue, which he has delayed to fight "significant impersonations." 

Paid Considerations

• At a minimum, all advertisers should review their platform targeting and tighten selections as needed to forestall appearing next to controversial content.

• Clients who use Twitter for goals other than general brand awareness or purchasing intent should consider continuing campaigns. Twitter still has thought leadership value for clients, though paid verification has begun to impact the credibility of its conversations and the handles participating in them.

Find our full set of updated recommendations here.

Our Energy & Sustainability team just wrapped their support of a variety of clients making announcements and commitments during the COP27 climate conference in Egypt, and they’ve got some tips for anyone interested in maximizing a future summit. 

While concrete commitments to meet emission reduction targets were lacking, a historic agreement was reached on a "loss and damage" fund to help nations hit hardest by climate disasters. Many of the salient details, including who pays for it and who can benefit from it, will be on the agenda for COP28 in the United Arab Emirates in 2023. 

If you’re thinking of participating in the future, our team recommends: 

• The best time to host offsite events is in the evening, after daily programming has ended. Food and drinks are a must after the long days at the conference. 

• Don’t be disappointed if you don’t get a response from climate reporters on the ground. They’re oversaturated but expecting to be spammed - keep at it! 

• Make sure any events / moments accommodate reporters following along virtually (i.e., livestream or recording). 

• Use external hooks and other current events at home to make your COP announcements timely and relevant to even non-COP beat reporters. 

• Look at COP as a long-term relationship building opportunity with reporters. Many may be interested in post-COP client announcements if the relationship is maintained. Get to know them while you have the face time, especially when you don’t have an immediate ask.

The United States is not the only country enjoying U.S. sweet potatoes, our Food & Ag team reports.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the United States was the top global exporter, by volume, of sweet potatoes in 2020. 

U.S. sweet potato exports on a fresh-weight basis increased 1,157 percent from 2001 to 2021, and the annual value of exports grew from $14 million to $187 million in the same period. Promotion of the tuber’s health benefits and food companies’ expanding sweet potato offerings—such as sweet potato chips and fries—have helped fuel the expansion. 

Exports to the United Kingdom and European Union experienced strong year-over-year growth from the mid-2000s until 2018.

Rising global competition and the damage caused by Hurricane Florence to the 2019 crop in North Carolina—the state leading U.S. production—cooled the export market. From 2018 to 2021, exports declined to the United Kingdom by 28% and to the European Union by 12%. Meanwhile, exports have continued to increase to Canada, among other destinations. 

The United States ranks seventh globally in sweet potato production, according to FAO. Over the past 20 years, top-producing U.S. States more than doubled sweet potato production to meet growing international and domestic demand. This trend has plateaued since U.S. sweet potato production reached a record high in 2017.