As you may be aware there have been issues over the weekend with Twitter. There are two things schools need to be aware of:
You can only see Tweets if you are logged into Twitter. Previously it was possible to send a link to the school Twitter Account and just see the tweets but users do now have to be logged in. This may prevent some of your parents accessing it if they do not have accounts.
A limit was imposed on how many Tweets you can see in one day. At the time of writing the limits are 10,000 a day for Twitter Blue Subscribers, 1,000 a day for long term accounts and 500 a day for recently created accounts. These numbers have risen since they were initially put in place and Twitter do claim the move is temporary but it is impossible to know what the future holds. This limit is very strict and includes all tweets, replies and possibly even adverts. Scrolling through Twitter will very quickly rack up several hundred tweets to your daily limit. While this might not stop you from posting, it will almost certainly affect the reach of any posts you put up. If parents and outside agencies use Twitter during the day and reach their limit then any post you make will be unavailable to them until the following day.
What Can Schools Do?
Most schools who use Twitter also have accounts with Facebook. Facebook is unaffected by this change so you can continue posting there.
Posting to your school blog on your website is also an option and is unaffected.
There are alternatives to Twitter. You may have heard talk in the media about Bluesky or Threads.
Bluesky is created by members of the original Twitter team but at the time of writing is closed for registrations and you can only join if a current member gives you a code. This solution, therefore, is not suitable for schools.
Threads is Facebook’s version of Twitter. It is still in development and at the time of writing there are rumours it will be going live on Thursday 6th July 2023. We will monitor this but advise schools to wait a while before moving. This will give us the chance to explore how the platform works and how best to use it for schools.
The third option is Mastodon. While Mastodon does allow you to share “toots” (their version of tweets) with users who aren’t logged in and works very similar to Twitter, it is a bit more complex to set up and find and follow people. This has affected the uptake of users moving to it. However, it is a viable alternative and you can easily point parents and third parties to your Mastodon page. If you are supported by eServices for your website and Social Media then this is something we can help you set up and keep updated.
Key Advice
If you have the ability to log into your school’s Twitter account then we advise against it. Looking at a few pages of tweets could easily see you reach the limit and this would stop you from reading and replying to any Tweets you have made. There is also the potential of problematic replies being made under your original Tweet and you being unable to see or do anything about them until the following day.
This could also be a good time to analyse your engagement on Twitter. If you are finding Twitter engagement is down, then you could move to just using Facebook and/or your school website's Blog.
What's Next?
What happens next is unknown but rest assured eServices are monitoring the situation and will post updates as needed. If you are supported by eServices, feel free to keep sending us your posts through the ticketing system. If we have any issues with particular accounts then we will contact schools directly.
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