Editor’s note: This the latest article in an occasional series covering the turbulent world of social media for businesses. We’re calling this series The Social Sandbox. This time we dig into the shifting perceptions of X and LinkedIn.

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There are some bullies in the social sandbox. These brats will ruin the day for the rest of us if they have their way. Fortunately, there are also some new faces coming in and some positive developments for everyone.

How can we balance the positive and the negative? With an article that shares the bad news along with the good news.

Let’s start on the dark side.

The bad news: Time to axe X?

Remember Twitter? At its inception, that charming little blue bird was the platform for sharing brief thoughts. It led to abbreviations, emojis and inventive ways to express yourself in just a few characters. Well, the little bird has flown, replaced by an intimidating black X. Elon Musk, who drove the transformation, claimed it was “all about free speech.”  Technically speaking, Elon planned to “Introduce new features to the platform, make its algorithms open-source, combat spambot accounts, and promote free speech.”

The community didn’t see it that way. X has lost over 13% of its users and its workforce has dropped by more than 80%.

Many companies, Boomm clients included, are wondering if it is time for them to stop posting on X. Seemingly overnight, we saw a large decline in community members. That hurt, particularly because we worked so hard in partnership with our clients to grow those communities.

More importantly, companies wondered if posting on X was hurting their brand perception.

 Which brings us back to the big question: Should your brand axe X? That decision is up to your management and their collective comfort zone. For Boomm clients, reactions have been across the board. Some of the accounts we manage on X decided to keep posting and are growing again, which is promising. Others have put X on indefinite “pause” until the platform figures itself out. Even one of the marketing automation platforms we use has blocked X, citing “incompatible differences.”

We’ll be following this story closely, for everyone’s sake.

 The good news: LinkedIn is back to business

Back in 2022, we posted about the professional community’s frustration with LinkedIn. Many community members felt the network had abandoned its primary mission. They saw the professional culture of LinkedIn fading, only to be replaced by a more personal and casual network where business networking had been relegated to a side topic.

Has that situation improved any? Judging by organic growth, the short answer is yes. LinkedIn has expanded its communities and its revenue sharply over the last year.

Why the surge? Experts believe Gen Z is driving the growth of LinkedIn. In fact, the number of monthly US Gen Z users is expected to rise by 13.7% this year, according to Insider Intelligence.

What’s the attraction? Employment possibilities. LinkedIn is still the premiere platform for jobseekers and older Gen Zers have started to enter the workforce.

Another driver has been a resurgence in professional posts on LinkedIn. This finding isn’t based on any definitive data; simply visit the platform and see for yourself. Recent professional posts cite individual promotions, company accolades, team building events and collaboration between companies. There is also a strong push toward recruiting, which makes sense considering the challenges of finding and retaining qualified workers.

In short, LinkedIn appears to back to business as usual, and that’s good for the social sandbox.

Let’s close with one final piece of positive news: We’re slowly learning that social is too strong to stop. It really is the people’s platform, and the privileged few can’t change that. We’ll keep posting, sharing, engaging and helping each other along. The little blue bird would have wanted it that way.

Thanks for visiting the Social Sandbox. See you next time.