The way articles and news stories are posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, has changed.
Headlines are out, because X owner Elon Musk thinks these posts look better without additional text below the image.
The Standard first reported on these plans back in August, at which point Musk said he thought the change “would greatly improve” the look of the platform.
Does it? Arguably it does, but the switch also removes the visual distinction between a posted article or news report and a plain image.
There’s no clear indication the picture also functions as a link. You won’t know until you tap or click.
Musk outlined his view of traditional news coverage in a post on October 5.
“I almost never read legacy news anymore. What’s the point of reading 1000 words about something that was already posted on X several days ago?” Musk wrote.
“Citizen journalism is the path to better future!” he suggests.
In April, Twitter unlocked posts of up to 10,000 characters for those subscribed to Twitter Blue, now known as X Premium. This that was further extended to 25,000 characters in June 2023.
Paying X users get to expound to excess, and have their replies to posts prioritised over non-paying users.
The move to minimise the prominence of content posted outside of X itself comes with the added benefit, for X, that people are less likely to click or tap out of the social network and onto the BBC, CNN, or the Evening Standard.
This will naturally also be beneficial for the platform’s advertising revenue, at least in the short-term.
According to Reuters, Twitter/X’s advertising revenue has decreased each month since the social network was acquired by Musk in October 2022.
Earlier this year, Musk said he had fired of up to 80 per cent of Twitter’s workforce, including safeguarding, misinformation, and disinformation experts.
In September, the EU issued a warning to Twitter after it was found to have the highest rate of disinformation among the major social media platforms.
