For years, schools, districts, and educators have relied on Twitter to connect with each other, families, and students.
But with recent changes to how users are verified and limits on the number of posts users can see at a time, some school districts are looking elsewhere to share their messages, particularly those that are urgent or time-sensitive.
Meanwhile, Twitter alternatives like Meta鈥檚 Threads have emerged.
鈥淲e are unclear about the future of Twitter, but I would say we鈥檙e unclear about the future of all platforms, really,鈥� said Jerry Gallagher, a partner at the Donovan Group, a school district communications and public relations firm based in Wisconsin. 鈥淔or schools, it鈥檚 important to be flexible and understand what鈥檚 here today could be gone tomorrow, so it鈥檚 more important to have a good communications plan in place so you know what you鈥檙e going to communicate. Then I think the 鈥榟ow鈥� and 鈥榳here鈥� follows after that.鈥�
In April, Twitter began rolling back its 鈥渓egacy verification program,鈥� in which people and organizations went through a process to prove they were legitimate, and their profiles were then noted as such with a blue checkmark.
The rollback has made prominent organizations, including schools, and well known people vulnerable to being spoofed, and some have left the platform altogether to get ahead of potential problems.
Then, in early July, Twitter put a limit on the number of tweets users could view each day. While intended to 鈥渁ddress extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation,鈥� according to Reuters, some public safety agencies have criticized the move, saying it , including critical messages about public safety emergencies or natural disasters.
In Northfield, Minn., district leaders haven鈥檛 ditched Twitter, but they have learned in recent years that it is the least trafficked of the district鈥檚 social media pages in general.
Instead, most parents there gravitate toward Facebook, and the students have more fully embraced Instagram, Superintendent Matt Hillmann said.
Still, the district mostly uses its social media pages to share highlights and fun facts, rather than to disseminate important school or district updates, Hillmann said.
As districts navigate the everchanging landscape of social media, Hillmann and Gallagher offered some advice for leaders to keep in mind to best communicate with families and the community at large.
Pick your platforms and be consistent
Both Hillmann and Gallagher said it is of paramount importance that districts learn where their community members most often turn for information about schools, because people鈥檚 preferences will vary depending on the community.
Gallagher recommended districts do a routine survey of the community to get that feedback, preferably every few years. Then, once schools get an idea of what the community wants to see, they should pick a handful of platforms and tools to use, then be consistent about how and when they鈥檙e used.
It won鈥檛 be possible to accommodate everyone, Hillmann said, but it鈥檚 more beneficial to concentrate communication efforts to a few key programs and platforms.
鈥淚 think over the years, in an effort to communicate with lots of people, we have all splintered and amassed a number of different softwares and platforms that include some kind of communication tool,鈥� Hillmann said. 鈥淪o, now I think we鈥檙e at a point where we have to do some hard looking at what are the ones that we need to give up.鈥�
It鈥檚 important, Gallagher added, that schools put their official social media handles for all platforms in a place that鈥檚 easily accessible to the public, like the district website. That鈥檚 one way of directing people to the proper social media accounts, rather than accounts created by spoofers.
Think about what time you鈥檙e posting and sharing
Whenever possible, districts should avoid posting or sending information out on Friday afternoons, Gallagher said. Odds are, people are tuned out by then for the weekend and the effort is going to waste.
The best times to share updates on any social media platform are early in the morning as people are waking up, during the lunch hour, around the time school lets out for the day, and later in the evening after dinnertime, Gallagher said.
鈥淪omething to consider is scheduling posts for those times on whatever platforms it is you choose to use,鈥� he said. 鈥淵our audience is very habitual and you can use that to your advantage.鈥�
Consider more direct communication
The Northfield district has invested more in its direct communication with families.
It now uses TalkingPoints, a two-way communication platform that allows staff to send text messages to family members, kind of like sending out a mass email, Hillmann said.
The software automatically translates the message from English鈥攐r whatever language the original message was written in鈥攖o the language families have chosen as their home language. If the translation isn鈥檛 quite right or doesn鈥檛 make sense, the person who received the message can push a button to ask for a live translator to step in, Hillmann said. This could be used to announce snow days or other cancellations.
鈥淪ocial media has a wide reach, but if we鈥檙e really trying to get messages to our parents, anything that we can do to ping them on their phone, we know that that鈥檚 the most effective way to get their attention,鈥� Hillmann said. 鈥�... Your social media is a much more public scenario where you are reaching potential families and community members who may not be enrolled but have some kind of interest in the work you鈥檙e doing, so it has its place, too.鈥�
There are similar platforms that can send emergency alerts to school community members鈥� phones in the event of a crisis, like a school shooting, which can be an effective way to quickly and broadly share critical information, Hillmann said.
