What should we think of JD Wetherspoon ditching social media?
Tim Martin knows his audience and this is a shrewd move
This week, JD Wetherspoon announced it is closing its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
The pub chain said that around 900 pubs and its head office will no longer have a social media presence. According to Tim Martin, the Wetherspoon chairman, ‘It’s becoming increasingly obvious that people spend too much time on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and struggle to control the compulsion.’ He went on: ‘We are going against conventional wisdom that these platforms are a vital component of a successful business.’
Commentators were quick to call it a publicity stunt. One Twitter user wrote: “Wetherspoon couldn’t build a social media following so got some free publicity by deleting its accounts.”
Others pointed out that most Wetherspoon Facebook pages have fewer than 1,000 likes but attract many negative reviews. A Twitter account allegedly made by the pub chain’s sacked social media team wrote:”So social media is a ‘waste of..