CBS News ‘discontinues’ its Twitter presence

CBS News has “suspended” its activity on Twitter as concerns and confusion grow over the future of the social media platform and its content.

“Given the uncertainty surrounding Twitter, and out of an abundance of caution, CBS News is suspending activity on the social media site as it continues to monitor the platform,” CBS News National Correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti reported. Friday, November 18. “CBS Evening News” from 2022.

The hiatus appears to affect the main @CBSNews account as well as the individual accounts of its various news programs, such as @CBSEveningNews, @CBSMornings and @CBSSunday (the “CBS Sunday Morning” account) as well as the accounts of its own stations. in the main markets of the country.

CBS News Bay Area (KPIX), which is based in San Francisco, tweeted a statement identical to Vigliotti’s later on November 18.

In light of the uncertainty surrounding Twitter and out of an abundance of caution, CBS News Bay Area is suspending activity on the social media site as we continue to monitor the platform.

— KPIX 5 (@KPIXtv) November 19, 2022

Other CBS-owned station accounts also appear to have remained silent since then.

The @CBS account, which is associated with the network as a whole, hasn’t tweeted since November 18, at the time of this writing, although it hasn’t been posted as frequently as accounts linked to the news.

@CBSSports, meanwhile, doesn’t appear to be included in the hiatus as it has continued to post updates. Accounts for individual CBS entertainment shows, which are not always directly controlled by the network, remained active, although some tended to be more active than others.

CBS’s break from Twitter comes after weeks of turmoil and uncertainty after Tesla owner Elon Musk completed his controversial acquisition of Twitter. Since then, questions about the platform’s content policies have raised concerns about the platform, given that Musk has presented himself as a supporter of free speech without specifically defining what that is. means.

Many celebrities and other high-profile influencers have also left the platform, with some pointing to Musk’s alleged right-wing politics as well as other issues.

The company has laid off thousands of employees since the acquisition, many of whom were fired over email after getting locked out of their work accounts. Others were reportedly forced to click a link to acknowledge a grueling stint of work to report to Musk or risk being fired. The company has also locked employees out of the office from time to time since the acquisition.

The company’s communications department appears to have been disbanded, making it difficult for the media to solicit comment from Twitter on the changes.

Meanwhile, Twitter also briefly started offering accounts the option to have a “verified” blue tick simply by paying $7.99 a month, which spiraled out of control as people shelled out the money and then changed their account names, including using Musk’s name.

Many of these account holders did so simply to prove the shortsightedness of Musk’s decision.

Twitter then began suspending the accounts for not using their real names.

It then abruptly shut down the pay-per-checkmark program and has since rolled out a second gray checkmark to indicate that an account is “official” – essentially the same status a “verified” badge gave an account before the change.

Advertisers and agencies have also cooled off on the platform, with many companies drastically or completely cutting back on ad purchases. Twitter largely depends on ad revenue to make money.

CBS News is the first major US national news organization to stop using Twitter, although several smaller outlets have announced they will close their accounts. CBS also hasn’t ruled out returning to the platform later.

News organizations often rely on Twitter to drive clicks to their own sites and entice users to spend time there, which, in turn, can generate additional ad revenue for the media outlets themselves.

The amount of traffic Twitter generates to news websites varies by outlet and audience and it is unclear whether cutting Twitter as a source of traffic could have any significant effects on revenue or visitors.

News organizations can also use Twitter to promote upcoming TV broadcasters, slipping into users’ feeds in an attempt to get them to switch viewing a scheduled program to linear or streaming TV. For example, many networks regularly tweet just before the start of their national newscasts in each time zone.

Twitter is also often used by news organizations to report short snippets of breaking news as it happens. News anchors and journalists also often have large followers and use their accounts to tweet news, tease upcoming stories and share insights into their personal lives.

It doesn’t appear that CBS News has ordered talent to stay off Twitter, as several reporters and presenters still appear to be actively using their accounts (since most of these accounts are controlled by an individual and claim to be personally controlled, they probably wouldn’t fall under decisions to stop using Twitter).

This is not the first time that a media has ordered a blackout on Twitter.

In 2018, the @FoxNews account stopped tweeting for a while in response to what it called Twitter’s slow response to removing tweets containing the home address of Fox personality Tucker Carlson, who raised concerns about his safety.