Social Media

If you've been visiting our website in recent weeks, you may have noticed some changes in the header and footer on our pages. We have removed the X logo and are no longer providing a link to our account on the X (formerly Twitter) social media platform. Given the past couple years of changes in leadership, community policies, and community makeup on X; socPub has decided to suspend posting on our X account. Admittedly, we always had a low following on this account so the statement we're making here is less significant than when other online publications take a similar action. Still, we believe no longer posting on X is a step in the right direction for socPub.

Before social media became the driving force it is today, customer service relied on telephone call centers and in-person interactions. Online companies utilized email to solve minor issues. With retail growing toward a more global platform, finding ways to better engage customers and improve their overall experience became more important. 

Although social media is one of the best marketing tools, it is also a massive target for cyberattacks and scams. Unfortunately, its popularity entices bad actors. Whether companies use an account to post news, network or market products, they must ensure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. What can business leaders and information technology (IT) teams do?

On Friday the CEO and a founder of Post News, Noam Bardin, announced that Post News will be shutting down this May. Post News is one of the alternative social media platform that has launched in recent years as an alternative to more established websites like X and Facebook. Post News distinguished itself from other social media platforms by its efforts to provide users access to premium content and news articles without fully subscribing to news organizations.

Over the weekend, we decided to open an account for socPub on the social network, Bluesky. This action is all in an effort I started by evaluating alternatives to Facebook and X that we've leaned on so much in the past. We like that fact that it will be easy for you to find us on Bluesky as our handle on the social network is the same as our web domain, @socpub.com.

I have come to both hate and love social media platforms since joining them in the early days via Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. There are some days I just want to quit all social media. Yet, social media has become an indispensable tool for communication, connection, information sharing, and in some cases building community. For years Twitter was my favorite for microblogging, but as X, for better or worse, it's no longer the valued social network it once was for me. Like many of you, I've been looking for an alternative to Twitter.

Within the last few weeks since its debut, Threads has taken the digital world by storm. A product of Meta — Facebook’s parent company — Threads has been widely discussed as a contender designed to rival Twitter. The buzz surrounding its launch and the rapid adoption rates are impossible to ignore.

Yet, with every new platform comes a crucial question for businesses — should you jump on the Threads bandwagon? Is it genuinely worth taking advantage of another social media channel, especially when it is in its infancy?

With the new Threads social media platform on the rise—destined to reshape how we communicate, promote brands and engage with each other—an exciting new era is underway. According to Threads early adopter and internationally-regarded CEO brand strategist Raoul Davis, CEO of Ascendant Group Branding, a leading global CEO branding firm and No. 1-ranked minority-owned U.S. PR firm, “Among the launch of numerous social media platforms over the years, none have been as strategically positioned for success as Threads.”

Here are Davis’ seven reasons why:

1. The Perfect Storm for Threads

While all eyes are on how Elon Musk is handling the blue checkmark over at Twitter and debating the checkmark's value and devaluing, I submit the checkmark isn't just a Twitter problem but also a social media problem no matter what platform you're using. Over the past couple weeks, I've come to the conclusion that it is a huge mistake to confuse verification with designating someone as notable or not. The use of verification for only notable users, which in turns designates the remaining users as non-notable, is divisive and never should have happened. While I reluctantly have sided with Mr.

At the risk of dating myself, I’ve been writing and posting articles online since the 1980s. Back then we didn’t have the Internet but we did have dial-up modems and bulletin board systems (BBS) hosted by computer enthusiasts. When the Internet, blogging, and self-hosted websites became popular in the late 1990's and early 2000’s I was also there. For awhile I hosted a website focused on content management systems that in its peak easily received over 100,000 unique visitors a month.