Over the past decade, Highlands and Islands (HI) Voices has gained over 20,000 followers and given hundreds of people in the region a platform.
Most accounts on X (formerly known as Twitter) are used by only one person or organisation.
But some – often called ‘rotational accounts’ – switch ‘curators’ regularly.
HI Voices is one such account. Every week, its followers will see posts from a different person living in or with a strong connection to Scotland’s Highlands and Islands.
This month marks HI Voice’s 10th anniversary. It’s a decade that’s seen over 500 curators and 70,000 posts.
Admin Simon Varwell, who helps manage the account and supports curators along with Katie Featherstone and Linda Ross, has been there from the very beginning.
‘We’re onto something good here’
The account was originally started by Lewis-based crofter and broadcaster Domhnall Macsween in 2013.
“He asked me to be the second curator,” says Simon. “And once we got to a few weeks in, I said to him, ‘look, we’re onto something good here’.”
HI Voices, Simon says, was partly inspired by another rotational account, covering Scotland in general, that “didn’t really last the course”.
“One of its problems was that it was very central belt dominated.”
To the HI Voices team, it’s important to “give voices” to areas, to people, to issues, perhaps even professions or localities, that “just aren’t always picked up by other wider discussions”.
And there’s no doubt that people are listening. The account now has over 20,000 followers – many from outside Scotland.
“We have loads of Americans following [the account], and people from other countries,” says Simon.
He believes that giving the Highlands and Islands a voice is more important now than ever.
‘All sorts of interesting debates’
“We’ve had so many big things in the region: the North Coast 500 and the growth of tourism – and the growth of over-tourism as well. And that’s created all sorts of interesting debates in the region.”
While HI Voices is “not a political account”, curators are free to explore these issues and give their own views.
Many of the curators, however, simply post pictures and updates from their day-to-day lives. And that, says Simon, might be the most important thing of all.
Highlands and Islands can be ‘reduced to cliches’
“The Highlands and Islands, partly because it’s such a famous and beautiful region, is easy for others to talk about in a way that reduces it to cliches,” he says. “You know, the land and the scenery and the amazing beaches.
“And all those things are true. All of those things do exist. But you’ve also got a bunch of people trying to pay their mortgage. You’ve got people trying to get to work every day, trying to get to school every day.”
With all of HI Voices’ past curators carefully archived, Simon says the project is a “social history” of the region.
Over the past ten years, the account has been taken over by everyone from a pet dog to Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael, “who was absolutely superb because he was not at all political”.
“He just tweeted a series of pictures of the transport infrastructure across Orkney and Shetland, and interesting people, places and stories. And the whisky he was drinking.”
A ‘serene’ place on the internet
Social media accounts like X aren’t always known for bringing out the best in people. But, in a decade, Simon says they’ve only ever had had one incident where they needed to “kick somebody off the account”.
“And somebody else volunteered very, very kindly to come in and just started tweeting lots of serene pictures of the sea and the coastline of Barra.”
Since the rebranding of Twitter as X earlier this year, the future of many accounts on the platform has been uncertain.
“We had a quiet few weeks, just as lots of people were leaving Twitter,” Simon says.
Will HI Voices disappear along with the little blue bird?
“I don’t know, but I don’t think so,” he says.
“As long as there are lots of curators coming in with interesting ideas, that’s the main thing.”
More local reporting from the Western Isles:
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