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On March 21, 2006 the first ever tweet was posted by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey: “Just setting up my twttr”. It was a simple introduction to a brand new platform. Backed by celebrities, it was different to other social media sites, like MySpace or Facebook, because you could interact with any user without them having to approve a request. Companies rushed to join the service, hoping to get closer to their customers.
“If you were a brand that wanted to be part of any cultural moments that were happening, Twitter was a great place to be,” Alex Wilson, a senior strategist at the marketing agency Pitch tells BBC News.
Twelve years later he would buy the platform for $44bn (£38.1bn), reshape the algorithm, reinstate banned accounts, repurpose the policy around “free speech”, and rename it X.
Since Mr Musk’s takeover companies have been choosing to leave the platform in what’s been termed “the great X-odus”.
One of the main concerns was the content that would be seen around their posts that users could screengrab and share.
For example, between June 2022 and February 2023 antisemitic posts on X doubled, according to research by the Institute of Strategic Dialogue.
More recently in the UK, Mr Musk’s posts about British politics have stirred up controversy.
At the end of 2023 firms including Apple, IBM and Disney paused advertisement on the platform. Others brands including Unilever and Mars were sued by Mr Musk, who accused them of unlawfully agreeing to boycott the site.
The argument that such posts are justified by freedom of speech does not convince him.
One of the most recent departures from X was by the UK arm of BMW. In late January it announced it was no longer posting on X and directed people to its posts on Facebook and Instagram.
There’s no definitive way to know how many brands are choosing to leave or reduce their posts on the platform.
When approached, X did not respond to the points raised in this article.
Mr Musk “has been clear that X is willing to make trade-offs to adopt a more open, less moderated approach compared to Twitter,” says Goran Calic, visiting scholar at Harvard Business School.
For some organisations who need to get their message out quickly, X still has value that other competitors simply can’t offer.
“Our broadcasting system is exclusively tied into our X account, but we still field customer service questions across other platforms.”
“It’s un unthinkable”, Mr Gensing explains, not to have a presence on social media in 2025.
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