Elon Musk Modifies Articles Shared on X to Enhance Aesthetics

X, previously known as Twitter, has introduced a new modification to its iOS app that could potentially cause annoyance among numerous users. In certain regions, the app no longer displays headlines on articles and other pages shared through URLs on the platform. Consequently, when a user shares a URL, only the lead image of the webpage and the domain name will be visible. Consequently, individuals who follow Twitter accounts of news outlets and individuals who share similar content will now encounter difficulty in comprehending the nature of the content. According to reports, this alteration has been directly implemented by the company’s owner, Elon Musk.

According to a report from The Verge, Musk has focused on increasing engagement on the platform, and in an attempt to do so, he has asked users to post more content on X. He has also urged journalists to create their own brand and post directly to X and earn revenue through the platform, which may be another reason to ignore links shared on the platform that may take users away to another website.

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Elon Musk takes the headlines out of X

According to the report, the change has only been seen on the iOS app version of the platform, while Android and the website still display the title alongside the main image. However, this change is unlikely to be limited to iOS and is expected to eventually roll out across all versions of the platform.

And the reason for that seems to be that the decision comes directly from the business owner. A little over a month ago, Musk responded to a tweet about X’s plans to remove headers from links, saying: “This is coming straight from me. Greatly improves aesthetics (sic)”.

Responding to a post yesterday about a drop in links to social media platforms like Facebook and X’s news site, Musk said: “Our algorithm tries to optimize time spent on X, so links don’t get as much attention because less time is spent if people click away . It’s best to submit content in long form to this platform.”

So this is a clear direction that Musk plans to take as he builds a more engaged platform. However, it remains to be seen how users who follow social media platforms to keep up with news and prefer to read headlines before clicking on a link will adapt to this sudden change.

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