2023-10-05 09:47:04
Elon Musk is starting to implement new changes in Xthe red social formerly known as Twitter. X has begun changing the format in which links to news appear on the platform so that only the image appears, thus eliminating all traces of the headlines. This modification was announced last August
Twitter/X has officially removed article headlines on links shared to the platform, now just displaying the image and website. pic.twitter.com/fNQSfAy70d
— Pop Base (@PopBase) October 4, 2023
As revealed by Fortune, the new format has been personally promoted by Musk to “reduce the clickbait (exaggerated headlines to lead the reader to click on the link)”. The intention would be to give more visual weight to X and limit the text, which until now has been its most distinctive feature.
“This comes directly from me,” Musk confirmed. “It will significantly improve the aesthetics.” Even so, internal sources have told Fortune that the change is not liked by the advertisers in charge of implementing it.
With this modification, the links shared on the old Twitter now look like this:
I decided to cut it because clutter — I can explain it here.
On mobile, articles look like this now (left). On desktop, they still look like how they have always looked (right).
Elon thinks articles take up too much space. He wants to eliminate any text below the image. pic.twitter.com/bOQR7Xtwoa
— Kylie Robison (@kyliebytes) August 22, 2023
Avail of changes
After purchasing the social network last November, Musk has not stopped making changes. The most notable has been the change in the name, logo and direction of the company, renamed X due to its long-standing obsession with the penultimate letter of the alphabet. In just the last few weeks, the billionaire has been accused of slowing down access to websites he doesn’t like, preventing the blocking of other accounts and allowing the publication of extremist messages such as anti-Semitic ones.
These and other changes have scared away large companies, reducing Twitter’s advertising business, but also many users. Those problems have led to other technology giants to try to occupy that market. Metaowner of Facebook and Instagram, has launched Threadsa Twitter clone that will soon also be able to be used in a web version. TikTokFor its part, it also announced that it will allow the publication of text messages on its platform in order to compete for that space.
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