Written by James Erskine. 

You will have seen the memes of Gary Barlow’s son. You will be aware of the shift in how users are engaging with X, formerly Twitter. Are brands coming back to X for more light hearted content like before? 

What can Gary Barlow’s son teach us about the state of X, formerly Twitter?

In amongst the swirling fog of political gloom emanating from the USA during the election and aftermath, UK social media users were creating a storm of an altogether lighter tone and lower level of doom and gloom. 

X, formerly Twitter, particularly took keen interest in a picture of Gary Barlow and his son, who was, according to users, ‘massive’.

What content do we expect to see on X?

Ignoring some facts that were to transpire later – apparently Gary Barlow is actually 5 foot 7 himself – this felt like a return to form for the platform. 

X used to be a place for political debate but also a certain amount of silliness and nonsense.

This felt like something everyone could take part in, and suddenly there were plenty of related memes.

Everything from Gary Barlow’s son eating a croissant, his phone and Gary Barlow passing his son a straw. 

So why does this matter? 

Firstly, it was a good reminder that even after Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the platform can still stand for silliness and it is not a *total* bin fire of overly algorithmic, ill-informed political diatribe. 

Secondly, some brands, that were nimble and dynamic did make use of this social trend to enhance their relevancy and make their communities laugh.

Does this mean that X can be saved? 

I remain unconvinced. Whilst the Gary Barlow’s Son meme did showcase Twitter’s lighter side, it still feels a very different platform than the one before. It is worth noticing much of the humor that originated on Twitter was amplified and continued on other platforms – leaving X to more political discourse. 

There is another movement on X that has also engaged me. The author Irving Welsh has been extolling the virtues of Bluesky.

In later posts he pointed out that Bluesky did feel a little dormant, but now it has 14.5 million users it feels more vibrant. 

Welsh also said it has more “generous, informed gracious discussion and not infested by robots, right wing incels and puerile propagandists.” 

Twitter was never mainstream. It had nowhere near the number of users of Facebook, Instagram or TikTok. But it did over index on influence – journalists and politicians used it as their platform of choice. The search for a post-Musk replacement has not delivered a uniform solution: Threads, with all the power of Instagram’s accounts, has eschewed news and has, as a result not delivered a like for like for the more serious minded user. 

The other well discussed alternative is Mastodon which does get lots of praise from what can politely be termed the hoi poloi. It now boasts neatly nine million users and people talk of a bot free existence. 

Conclusions 

It is great that social media can be a place for silliness and that memes for the mainstream can still catch fire. Ian Wright was sharing how big Gary Barlow’s son is on The Overlap – a social first football content strand. 

It is telling and eye-opening that what would have been a strand discussed on X and Twitter previously actually caught fire on other platforms.

Until those that loved Twitter can choose one platform to replace X in their affections – that might be Threads, that might by Bluesky, that might be Mastadon – then people will cling on to X despite its shortcomings. 

I am a lover of Twitter and I wish it had the same amount of positivity as it once did.