The blocking of X (formerly Twitter) in Brazil has created a series of challenges for marketing professionals and advertising agencies. The valuable insights into emerging trends and public sentiment that the network once offered are now unavailable in Brazil. How can social media monitoring strategies be adapted to this new scenario? AdNews spoke to experts in search of answers.
Camila Geraldi, Data and Reputation Manager at Bold
If Elon Musk doesn’t give in and the STF’s decision is upheld, one thing is certain: Twitter/X will be missed by advertisers. The platform was a valuable source of information, both for current topics that were easily identified by trending topics, and for observing seasonal behaviors, such as knowing if there is a time of year when people talk more about a certain common topic, as explained by Camila Geraldi, Reputation and Data Manager at Bold: “For example, with the help of Twitter, we identified an increase in people talking about making homemade bread during the pandemic and, with the end of the lockdown, people continued to bake bread at home, even though the topic has decreased, it is still more relevant today than it was pre-pandemic. Or like the fact that more people talk about fashion and clothing in general during award ceremonies such as the Oscars, Emmys, MET Gala, among others.”
Twitter has always been a social thermometer, where real-time discussions and instant reactions allowed for dynamic monitoring of consumer behavior. Felipe Borges, Head of Data at WMcCann, explains how the site’s suspension affects the agency’s monitoring. “The blocking of X significantly impacts our social listening operations, since the platform had a more open policy for data collection. With the suspension, there is a drastic reduction in the volume of data collected, which directly interferes with the analysis of Digital Share of Voice and the measurement of our clients’ brand health,” explains the Head.
Lucas Rodrigues de Paula, Head of Growth at Skeps, echoes the importance of the platform for digital marketing and says that it has always been an important thermometer for understanding what people are thinking and saying about brands and products. “With the lockdown, we lost a channel that is very rich in spontaneous opinions, something that has always helped capture valuable insights,” he says.
What alternatives?
Barbara Toscano, Project Manager Lead da GMD
Barbara Toscano, GMD’s Project Manager Lead, highlights the growth of emerging platforms such as Threads and Blue Sky. “Facebook groups, Reddit and Discord are more niche platforms, but very important for Social Listening. In addition, we continue to monitor the social networks of relevant brands and influencers,” she reiterates.
Barbara says that GMD had been working since the beginning of the controversy and preparing for the suspension. “Although Twitter has been one of the main social networks for quick insights, since the beginning of the controversies, we have already diversified our sources. For more in-depth research, we already use a combination of social networks and qualitative methodologies. Twitter leaves a difficult gap to be filled in terms of immediate insights, but we are taking advantage of the presence on other networks, such as Discord, Reddit and Facebook groups, where the community is highly active, especially in the gaming sector, to compensate for this absence. These platforms offer more in-depth and engaged discussions, helping to fill the gap left”, she reveals.
Lucas Rodrigues de Paula, Head of Growth at Skeps,
Lucas recalls alternatives for understanding consumers. “We have other highly relevant networks, such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, in addition to news portals. TikTok, for example, has shown itself to be a platform with great potential for capturing opinions and identifying trends through comments on videos. Each of these networks has its own particularities, but together, they allow social listening work to continue in a robust way, taking advantage of user interactions in different formats,” says the head.
Camila also highlights the two platforms mentioned above, however, the professional emphasizes that their use is still a challenge, as many do not have the same data infrastructure that Twitter offered. She also explains that the alternatives, despite being larger in size, are not as efficient as the late X: “TikTok is a valuable source of information, but with API restrictions, collections are far from ideal. Instagram also continues to be a popular network and has more than 136M users, which makes it the most used social network in Brazil (second only to Whatsapp). Facebook is also relevant for some segments, such as cooking, for example. OX, despite being the 8th most used social network in Brazil, is the one that generates the largest volume of content, since while people publish once a day on IG or TK, on Twitter it is rare for people to write just one tweet a day. On the network, people talk about their day, give their opinions on hot topics (politics, TV shows, cooking, fashion, music, awards, among others) and talk to each other.
For Bold’s reputation and data manager, YouTube also has its value, since there we can follow opinion makers talking more fully about topics. “It’s a great way to learn about a subject that the analyst may not be familiar with. In addition to networks, forums like Reddit are also great for monitoring people’s behavior on a specific topic. Since it is a virtually anonymous network, people feel free to express their opinions on a wide range of subjects. The biggest problem with monitoring forums is that most listening tools do not collect these publications,” she explains.
Felipe Borges, Head of Data at WMcCann
Adapting to the moment
According to WMcCann’s Head of Data, the main priority at this time is to ensure continuous access to reliable and updated information. “We currently use one of the largest social data collection and analysis platforms in Brazil for continuous monitoring. In addition, we work together with our engineering team to ensure that all historical data is stored in the cloud and updated daily, preventing the loss of valuable information. We are in direct contact with the Stilingue team to monitor the evolution of data collection on new platforms and to keep ourselves informed of any movement regarding the blocking of Twitter. This way, we can anticipate market changes and adapt our strategies quickly, based on insights provided by experts,” explains Borges.
Lucas also reiterates the use of Stilingue at Skeps. “But now we are also looking at new networks like Blue Sky and Threads while they do not have integration for AI listening. Threads is still in the maturation phase, but Blue Sky has already shown that it has the potential to fill part of the void that Twitter left”, he predicts.
For Felipe Borges, the most relevant point in this scenario is the constant need to be aware of changes. “In recent years, we have faced the implementation of the LGPD, in addition to similar situations, such as Facebook’s restrictions in the United States, which ended up becoming global issues. Our market is dynamic and unpredictable, and to successfully navigate these changes, it is essential to have a specialized team, both in data collection, with a robust engineering team, and in channel analysis. These professionals are essential so that we can not only adapt, but also evolve with these movements, which tend to become increasingly frequent”, he concludes.
