Museums Galleries Scotland to ‘significantly scale back’ presence on X

Museums Galleries Scotland, the development and funding body for Scotland’s non-national museums, is to “significantly scale back” its presence on X (formerly Twitter) as part of a new social media strategy.

In a blog announcing the strategy, the organisation said it was important “that our social media aligns with our organisational values and the objectives of Scotland’s museums and galleries strategy”.

“Our new strategy has been shaped by a desire for accessible, inclusive, and conscientious communication,” said the blog.

“It also takes into account the recent engagement levels we’ve observed on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter), our current social media platforms.”

The organisation said that while it had seen a healthy increase in its engagement on LinkedIn, its performance on X “has been in decline”.

“Our 2023 sector-wide communications survey revealed that most respondents had either already left X or were strongly considering leaving,” said the blog.

“The majority of respondents indicated that they currently use Facebook and Instagram to stay updated with sector news, such as events and funding, and to engage with their audiences.

“With all this in mind, we’ve decided to scale back significantly on X and join Instagram and Facebook. We’re excited to continue to amplify the work of the sector through these new channels and hope to reach wider demographics that we haven’t been engaging with on X or LinkedIn.”

The organisation said it would experiment with content as it establishes its presence on the new platforms and would continue to monitor its presence across all social media.

“We also remain conscious of the increasing role of X in escalating divisive rhetoric, and are regularly reviewing our decision to participate in this channel,” the blog said.

The announcement follows controversy over the platform's role in this month's far-right riots, which were partly sparked by racist disinformation spread on social media platforms in the wake of the tragic murder of three children in Southport.

UK prime minister Keir Starmer clashed with the billionaire owner of X, Elon Musk, after the latter wrote on X that "civil war is inevitable" following the riots. A number of Labour MPs, including Home Office minister Jess Phillips, have since announced that they are scaling back their use of the platform or quitting it altogether.

Several museums have closed or suspended their X accounts recently due to what they describe as escalating levels of social media backlash, including Weston-super-Mare Museum and the People's History Museum. However others in the sector say it continues to be an essential marketing and networking platform.