Lush announces it is ditching its social media channels - here's why

The cosmetics brand says it is 'tired of fighting with algorithms'

Lush cosmetics has announced it is ditching its social media channels. Pawan Singh / The National

Social media has long been touted as a way to connect people, whether it’s friends, families, celebrities or brands with their customers.

But cosmetics company Lush has announced that it will be ditching a number of its prominent social media channels, saying that it actually believes they are having the opposite effect, making it harder for the brand to directly talk to its customers.

“Increasingly, social media is making it harder and harder for us to talk to each other directly,” a post on the brand’s UK Instagram account reads. “We are tired of fighting with algorithms, and we do not want to pay to appear in your newsfeed. So we’ve decided it’s time to bid farewell to some of our social channels and open up the conversation between you and us instead.”

Lush is set to close its Instagram account, which has more than half-a-million followers, along with other accounts across Facebook and Twitter including Lush Kitchen, Lush Times, Lush Life, Soapbox and Gorilla.

“Lush has always been made up of many voices, and it’s time for all of them to be heard. We don’t want to limit ourselves to holding conversations in one place, we want social to be placed back in the hands of our communities – from our founders to our friends,” the post continued.

It adds that in place of the main social media channels, people will start to see more of the individual voices from within the company, saying ‘Lush personalities’ will appear online. “This isn’t a replacement for the brand channels, but an opportunity for our customers to connect one on one with people within Lush based on the various categories," a spokesperson said.

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