We explore the impact of X’s community notes on businesses.
Since Elon Musk bought the former Twitter in 2022, this social network has been shrouded in numerous controversies. Despite the polemics, one thing is certain: X, as it has been renamed, can still play a central role in any company’s digital marketing strategies.
Among the many changes proposed by Elon Musk, one deserves special attention: the community notes. They are a feature that, in theory, allows users to collaboratively add contextual information, clarifications, or corrections to tweets and other posts.
The aim is to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the content, reduce misinformation, and enhance the overall quality of information shared on the platform. Whether these objectives are being met is still a matter of much debate. What cannot be denied is that community notes can have significant impacts on the performance of ads on X.
But before we continue, let’s consider this: is it still worth advertising on X?
Why X (Twitter) Is Still a Top Choice for Advertisers
Despite all the noise caused by Elon Musk, the answer is that, yes, it is still worth advertising on Twitter. The platform’s numbers speak for themselves.
- Active Users: X has approximately 368 million monthly active users, with 245 million daily active members worldwide.
- Engagement Rates: X video ads have an 80% completion rate, indicating high viewer engagement.
- Revenue: In 2022, Twitter generated $4.4 billion in revenue, with advertising being a significant component despite recent declines.
- Video Content: X is increasingly focusing on video content, with video views up 35% year-over-year and the average time spent watching videos increasing by 17%. This trend suggests that incorporating video into advertising strategies could be highly effective.
- High-Earning Users: A substantial portion of X’s user base comprises high earners, with 49% of the US-based audience earning more than $70,000 annually. This makes the platform particularly appealing for targeting affluent consumers.
A Collaborative Effort to Improve Transparency
As we have seen, community notes primarily serve to add context to a post, including ads. These annotations are produced by more than 500,000 volunteers worldwide who try to intervene in content they consider misleading.
To provide an example of how a community note can appear, we’ve included an image of a recent post created by Iain Dale, a broadcaster for the LBC radio station. During the Euro 2024 final between England and Spain, Dale commented that England players demonstrated more passion in singing their national anthem compared to the Spanish team. However, as a community note contributor has stated, the Spanish national anthem doesn’t actually have lyrics, defeating the point of Dale’s post.
When a volunteer writes a community note, this observation is not published immediately. In fact, most comments are never published. For these observations to be displayed under a post, a certain number of people must agree that the proposed remark is useful. Volunteers can also mark the explanation as not useful, preventing it from being displayed.
X uses a complex algorithm to determine whether a note should be displayed or not. For a clarification to be considered useful, it must receive agreement from a diverse set of users. This means that the annotation needs to be approved by people from different perspectives and backgrounds to avoid bias.
Not everyone can write community notes. Users need to apply and be accepted into the program first. Acceptance is based on factors such as the user’s history on the platform, including their account age, engagement levels, and adherence to X guidelines.
How Community Notes Affect Your Business
Advertising on social platforms, especially on X, has become trickier, but still worthwhile. Here is why.
Positive Impacts
It is important to recognise the positive impact of community notes. To begin with, they increase the platform’s credibility by reducing fake news and clickbait that steal the attention of its audience. This applies not only to political and health topics but also to your brand.
Imagine, for example, that someone went to your restaurant and accused it of serving frozen food instead of fresh. Volunteers can place a community note on the post correcting the information or misunderstanding.
Additionally, the comments provide direct and highly visible feedback, allowing brands to adjust their marketing strategies in real time based on user reactions and comments. Brands that embrace and respond to Community Notes demonstrate transparency, which can improve the public perception of the company.
Negative Impacts
On the other hand, having your advertisement “stamped” with a community note gives users the impression that your company lied to gain engagement or, even worse, tried to deceive the public to increase sales. Receiving it is like receiving a public reprimand, a sort of virtual slap on the wrist.
The problems don’t stop there. Once you have been targeted by a community note, your company loses control of the narrative and naturally has to go on the defensive. What was supposed to be a post or advertisement praising your product becomes a communication crisis that can escalate significantly.
Some of the world’s largest companies have already faced the wrath of community note contributors.
In 2023, for instance, an advertisement from Apple promoting the sustainability of the iPhone faced criticism via a community note. The comment claimed that Apple deliberately slows down older iPhone models to boost sales of new ones, referencing a 2020 lawsuit where Apple settled for up to $500 million over the issue.
Samsung also fell victim to community notes. The company posted a message on X showcasing the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera capabilities, specifically highlighting its ability to capture clear photos of the moon and night sky. Shortly after, a comment appeared under the post, informing users that “Samsung phones digitally ‘fake’ images taken of the Moon to make them appear sharper.”
Has X Become Too Dangerous For Advertisers?
Community notes do not mean that X has become a minefield. Rather, they indicate that there is a need for more rigorous content review processes to ensure that all advertisements are accurate and cannot be easily disputed by contributors. They can be great allies in increasing a brand’s credibility.
On the other hand, brands must be prepared to address and manage the implications of negative notes swiftly. This may involve public statements, adjustments to marketing strategies, or even legal consultations.