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Major housing association pulls account from social media platform X
GreenSquareAccord has shut down its X account over concerns around “inappropriate content” on the social media site formerly known as Twitter and a drop-off in engagement.
The 26,000-home landlord said it was difficult to remain on the platform which was “so clearly out of sync with our culture and values”.
GreenSquareAccord had around 6,000 followers on X before it closed its account.
Writing on LinkedIn, Steve Hayes, GreenSquareAccord’s director of corporate affairs and communication, said it had not been a “simple decision” to leave X.
However, he said the group had become “aware of more and more unfiltered inappropriate content on the channel, including hate speech”, which had prompted the decision.
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Since billionaire businessman Elon Musk acquired X in 2022, the company has faced a number of controversies. This included many large advertisers reportedly leaving the platform.
GreenSquareAccord is the second social landlord in the space of two months to publicly declare it was closing its account on the site.
Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA) announced in February it was quitting X, as it said “racist and inappropriate” content on the site went against its values.
Many large housing associations still have a presence on X.
Mr Hayes said GreenSquareAccord had also seen a “prolonged and continued decline in engagement on the channel over the last six to 12 months”.
He added: “While our followers and engagement on our other social channels continue to grow at a steady pace, we were actually losing followers on Twitter.
“It was clear the resource involved in managing the channel was not justified by the engagement we were receiving.
“As a not-for-profit, it is important we put our resource to best use, and it was clear in this case we were not.”
According to Mr Hayes, GreenSquareAccord’s residents rarely contacted it through X.
“When they did, we were having to find workarounds to ensure the enquiries were dealt with as fairly and promptly as our other contact channels, which we are able to manage much more seamlessly,” he said.
“There is no right or wrong answer here and each organisation has to make the decision it feels is right.”
Mr Hayes’ LinkedIn post about the decision has attracted a string of supportive comments from others in the sector.
A separate GreenSquareAccord account for its its care and support arm is still active, but Mr Hayes said the housing association was also looking to remove that channel.
Inside Housing has contacted X for comment.
GreenSquareAccord, which was formed through a merger three years ago, still has accounts on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
