SOCIAL MEDIA
Where have Twitter headlines gone? Why Musk has made the X change
Another change has been wrought upon X users as it is no longer possible to read an articles headline in a tweet, it is just the image.
The artist formerly known as Twitter, X, has been rolling out a number of widely disliked updates to the platform. Unbanning accounts linked to the far-right, a total rebrand, and plans to introduce a paid subscription to even access the app are just some of the actions taken since Elon Musk took over the company.
The latest has struck people tweeting with links, a crucial part of the information service of the app. If you opened Twitter on Thursday you will notice that post with a link no longer includes the title of the link in question, just the heading picture.
After Forbes reported about the planned change back in August, Musk tweeted: “This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the [a]esthetics.”
X has become a hostile place for news organisations since Musk took over in 2022. Traffic for organisations from Twitter has been on its way down and Musk himself has said the X algorithm has been optimising against links. The Australian Broadcast Coroporation and NPR are two organisations which recently pulled out of most of their Twitter presence.
“Best thing is to post content in long form on this platform,” Musk said.
Why is this a problem?
Studies have shown that very few people read beyond the headline of an article, with some estimates as high as 80% of readers not following a link. Removing the headline from tweets means people are even less likely to read the news. While this is likely Musk’s real intention, important news, for example in emergencies, could be missed without any headlines.
None of this has stopped Twitter losing three-quarters of its value.