Elon Musk is set to radically change the way news article links appear on the social media platform “X” previously known as Twitter. This move might impact news publishers’ ability to attract readers.
Late Monday evening, Musk mentioned in a post that “X” intends to eliminate article titles and texts from shared news links, retaining only the primary image. Fortune Magazine was the first to report this, citing a source who indicated that this move is a direct effort from Musk. The alteration could be Musk’s attempt to encourage users to spend more time on his platform and entice them to opt for subscription services to gain further details.
It remains unclear how this change will affect advertisers on the platform, which Musk claimed in July has 540 million monthly users.
Currently, news links appear to users as “cards” attached with an image, the source’s name, and a brief headline. This format plays a crucial role in prompting users to click on the links and aids publishers in gaining readership. However, with the adoption of the shortened links, users might resort to including text in their posts. Ultimately, they may contemplate subscribing to the platform’s premium service that allows up to 25,000 characters in a single post.
Notably, Elon Musk has seemingly acknowledged the potential failure of his $44 billion acquisition of “X”, formerly Twitter. In a recent statement on “X”, Musk admitted that there is a possibility that X “may fail.”
He expressed the reality that currently, there are no standout “social networks” and acknowledged the doubts others have expressed about the venture’s success.
Musk emphasized that despite these challenges, the company is determined to make a difference.
Meta, in competition with “X”, unveiled its Threads on July 5, which reportedly garnered over 100 million signups in a short period.
However, within six weeks, the platform’s daily active user count dropped from a peak of 44 million post-Threads launch to approximately 10 million, according to Similarweb data.
Despite Musk’s efforts to eliminate bots and transform the platform into a “super-app,” indications of a full recovery remain elusive.
A recent investigation by Mashable’s Matt Binder discovered that about 42% of his “X” followers had no followers themselves, raising suspicions of potential bot activity.
