What’s hot?

We’re going through a tough time right now. And by that, we mean the penultimate week of GBBO. It’s something that’s kept us going through lockdown, and has been a strange link to normality, and it’s almost over – but we must thank it for everything it’s done.

With Bake Off on our mind, we’ve been influenced to have a themed week for this week’s blog. No, it’s not chocolate or biscuits. It’s Twitter. While that might sound as dry as Mak’s biscuits (remember Mak? Feels like years ago) we can assure you it’s anything but…

The meme you need to understand: Claim disputed

This Twitter meme has been a long time in the making. It starts (like so many things do) with Donald Trump. Since May, Twitter has started flagging when Trump is telling porkies, with a note that ‘[!] This claim is disputed’. He responded by accusing Twitter of interfering with the US election, but let’s not get too hung up on that part.

Over the past few weeks, this warning has been popping up more than ever as Trump claims he’s a victim of voter fraud. Brands have responded hilariously.

Check out the ‘disputed’ tweets from KFC, Burger King and… Serbian Football?

The update you need to see: Fleets

It’s pretty clear that ephemeral content will continue to gain popularity across social platforms.

[Ephemeral content = fancy way to say content that is short term and disappears. It’s fleeting, you could say. Examples are Insta stories and Snaps]

Since LinkedIn started doing stories (we complained about it in this blog), we’ve been waiting for Twitter’s version to arrive. And here it is: Fleets.

We have mixed feelings about Fleets. Consider how consumers will use it – they’ll probably stop retweeting and simply start sharing as fleets. If this happens, we’re likely to have less content shared on our feeds, and we won’t see some of the brilliant memes and viral moments Twitter is famous for.

On the other hand, brands will have a field day. Ephemeral content gives you more opportunity to be risky – and brands are risky enough on Twitter anyway. It will also extend your reach and appeal to new audiences.

Take, for example, Sparknotes. A rare brand who has more Twitter followers (320k) than Instagram (246k). While they maintain the same tone of voice across both channels, their content is so different, with far more visuals and videos used on Instagram. Sparknotes has a huge opportunity to replicate it’s Insta story strategy on Twitter to gain even more engagements and followers. We are very excited to see more Jane Austen memes on Twitter.

The video you need to see: Lilo and Stitch x Wolf of Wall Street

One of the truly fantastic things about Twitter is that it’s probably the only social platform where you read the post copy first. Instagram lives or dies by the image – if your thumbnail is no good, no one is clicking. Similarly, Facebook has grown beyond its humble Wall Post past and our feeds are mainly filled with video content. As for TikTok – it can be enjoyed by illiterate babies.

That’s why posts like this one only work well on Twitter. You read the text, and put it together with the image, and you’re intrigued. Had we just seen a Wolf of Wall Street video on Instagram, would we have stopped? No. But if we knew it was a Lilo and Stitch mash up… obviously.

The place you need to shop: Sainsburys

It’s Christmas ads season, and this week #SainsburysXmas was trending on Twitter… but for all the wrong reasons. The hashtag was taken over by those stating they were boycotting Sainsburys, due to “not feeling represented” in the advert, which features a black family enjoying Christmas.

This sparked a mass debate over how other Christmas ads made them feel – did Edgar the dragon make them boycott John Lewis? Had they avoided Aldi since the launch of Kevin the Carrot?

The ignorance is painful. As someone from a BAME background, I can’t help but wonder if they’ve ever considered someone who looked different to them felt watching Lord of the Rings, Friends, or pretty much any classic rom-com.

It’s nice to view the flipside – that there are black children who will see themselves on-screen in a Christmas ad for the first time, ever. I imagine it’s similar to how I felt when Vanessa Hudgens played the lead in High School Musical (an underappreciated film for its true celebration of diversity).

The moral of the story? Shop at Sainsburys. You won’t run into any ignorant racists.

The ad you need to see: #BBCDad

Does the name Robert Kelly mean anything to you? It should. He’s an international political analyst – but that’s not exactly where you’ll know him from. He’s better known for his ill-fated BBC interview that saw his children waddle and wheel into the background of, with his wife desperately trying to control them.

Twitter Marketing has just partnered with Kelly (or #BBCDad as he’s better known) to talk about Twitter’s conversation settings – which gives brands more control over the conversations they start, allowing them to avoid unnecessary interruptions. He knows a thing or two about that.