JD Wetherspoon slammed over social media move

JD Wetherspoon announced yesterday that it was closing down its social media accounts. Yet the pub chain lives on in the Twitterverse. Sort of.

An account called @jdwtwats has appeared, apparently set up by the company’s sacked social media team. They tweeted: ‘Thanks to everyone for the support today. It's been surreal at times but hopefully it might open the debate up for those who genuinely believe the spin they've been fed. Things are going to only get more magnified as more eyes look their way, and not before time either’. And: ‘The irony that Brexit was supposed to be a great thing for us all...well according to the boss that is, yet it's what's going to kill off Wetherspoons. You read it here first. It gives us no pleasure to write that. Over and out. Account closing tonight’.

JD Wetherspoon Founder Tim Martin yesterday claimed: “We are going against conventional wisdom that these platforms are a vital component of a successful business. I don’t believe that closing these accounts will affect our business whatsoever, and this is the overwhelming view of our pub managers. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that people spend too much time on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and struggle to control the compulsion.” 

The folks at The Account Formerly Known as Wetherspoons responded: ‘It's worrying how many 'marketers' on Twitter are falling for the bullshit PR spiel. Wakey wakey! If you believe it was because there were "too many admins" then we'd respectfully suggest a different career path’. And it continued: ‘So social media is a "waste of everyone's time" is it? Well we disagree, so if any brands want to hire a dedicated team who have lost their jobs today we'd love to hear from you. Ideally brands that haven't panicked over the misuse of email lists for starters’.