The latest change driven by its owner, Elon Musk, to affect news publishers on the site, social media network X, formerly known as Twitter, is about to change how news links show on the website.
Monday’s Fortune article was the first to break the news, and Elon Musk to strip headlines later that day posted on Twitter to confirm it, writing, “This is coming from me personally.
Will significantly enhance the aesthetics,” he wrote. The platform will only show the main image going forward, hiding the headlines and other Elon Musk to strip headlines information from news links, making it harder for users to preview the contents before clicking.
Users’ timelines currently display news links as “cards” containing a picture, the source address, and a condensed headline. Such packaging promotes clicks Elon Musk to strip headlines and Elon Musk to strip headlines increases readership for publishers.
The action might be an effort to persuade users to subscribe to X’s premium service. Users could feel more inclined to add more text to their contributions if the links are shorter.
Up to 25,000 characters can be use in a single post when using the premium service.
How it will impact the platform’s advertising is not yet clear. Musk stated in July that it had 540 million monthly users.
Musk is promoting X as a more useful platform for content creators as a result of the modifications. Longer films can now be post by premium subscribers. Who also get a share of ad sales and have their posts shown higher up.
Since taking over as owner of Twitter in October 2022. Musk has made a number of drastic changes, many of which have had a detrimental effect on the news media. Which account for a sizable chunk of its user base.
The billionaire tried to start his own journalism ventures with a project called the Twitter Files. In which he had reporters publish “investigations” directly on the platform, Elon Musk to strip headlines suspended journalists from the platform.
Removed verification from many media figures, and removed verification from the accounts of many journalists.
He wrote this week, “If you’re a writer who wants more creative freedom and a higher salary, publish straight on our platform!” After assuming control of the website formerly known as Twitter.
Musk effectively dismantled its PR division and ceased answering inquiries from reporters. Earlier, a faeces emoji was used to respones to requests for comment. On Tuesday, X provided an automatic response in response to a request for comment.
According to documents seen by Fortune, X, the social media network formerly known as Twitter, is preparing a significant change to how news items appear on the service.
Stripping out the title and other text so that tweets with links only display an article’s lead image.
Elon Musk confirmed these plans around four hours after this article’s publication, writing on Twitter that “this is coming from me directly” and that it “would dramatically improve the aesthetics.”
Anybody sharing a link on X going forward, from individual users to publishers, will need to manually add their own text to go along with the links they share; otherwise, the tweet will merely show an image with an overlay of the URL.
Although clicking on the image will still take you to the entire article on the publisher’s website. Fortune claimed that the change could have significant effects on both publishers and marketers that rely on social media to drive traffic to their websites.
A source with knowledge of the situation claims that Elon Musk, owner of X, is absolutely pushing for the move.
The main goal appears to be to make tweets shorter. So that more messages would fit in the timeline area that is visible on the screen. According to the source, Musk also feels that the modification will lessen clickbait.
According to TechCrunch, a Twitter card for a news story or blog post now displays the header picture. The preview card of the post together with the title and summary text (only on the web).
However if the update is implement, X will only display the image with a link in a post. This means that viewers will just see the link and the image for that article. If a newspaper or blog posts no accompanying text with the link.
Musk reportedly recently remarked that writers seeking greater freedom and revenue should immediately publish on X. “Publish directly on this platform if you’re a journalist. Who wants more freedom to write and a higher income,” Elon Musk wrote in a tweet.
Elon Musk to strip headlines
According to The Guardian, the action could be a ploy to get more people to subscribe to X’s premium service. Users could feel more inclined to add more text to their contributions.
If the links are shorter. Up to 25,000 characters can be use in a single post when using the premium service.
How it will affect the platform’s advertisers is not yet clear. Musk stated in July that it had 540 million monthly users.
Musk is promoting X as a more useful platform for content creators as a result of the modifications. Longer films can now be post by premium subscribers.
Who also get a share of ad sales and have their posts shown higher up.After taking over as owner in October 2022. Musk has made a lot of drastic changes to Twitter, many of which have had a detrimental effect on the company’s new.
