Since taking over Twitter (now X) in 2022, billionaire Elon Musk never seems to tire of surprising people with his contradictory decisions regarding the platform. Musk's next plan, which has caused a stir, is to "hide" news headlines shared on X.
If the change goes ahead, news posts on X will now only appear with the URL and image. In what seems like an ironic twist (but isn't), Musk justified the decision in terms of bringing an "aesthetic improvement" to posts and in an attempt to avoid clickbait.
Why Musk's new plan doesn't make sense to users.
If the plan to hide shared news titles goes ahead, posts like the ones highlighted in the image above would, at first, only include the image and URL of the news story. For many users, the information would be incomplete and confusing.
The new plan to "improve the aesthetics" of the X feed is based on the idea that, without headlines in the news, users will have more space in their timelines and, therefore, will be able to see more tweets.
This first justification is opposed by two facts already pointed out by users of the platform. The first is that the choice to remove the title to save space makes less sense than reducing the image, for example.
The second fact pointed out by those who continue to use X is that journalists will still be able to write a text or the title of the news item in the message accompanying the link. So the space savings will not really exist.
The justification of reducing potential clickbait in the headline also seems to fall on deaf ears with the ability to simply write it in the message above the image.
Musk wants journalists to post directly to X
If you’re a journalist who wants more freedom to write and a higher income, then publish directly on this platform!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 21, 2023
Recently, Elon Musk posted the message above, which reads.
"If you are a journalist and want more freedom to write and a higher salary, publish directly on this platform."
The post refers to the announcement Musk made a few months ago. According to the entrepreneur, content creators, including journalists, could be paid for their publications, and the amount to be received would depend on the number of views of the posts.
So far, however, the service is only available in the United States and there have already been complaints about the payments. In addition, the character limit that X imposes on users who do not have a premium subscription makes the platform not very attractive for publishing entire articles.
Could the decision cause journalists to abandon X?
Whether the decision will cause journalists to abandon Twitter/X is still difficult to assess. It will still be possible to write the headline and a short text about the published news. Perhaps this will keep professionals on the platform.
However, a growing decline of communication professionals on X in the near future would not be very surprising. Recently, a survey revealed that scientists are abandoning the platform and swapping X for other social networks. The reasons revolve around the increase in trolls, misinformation and science denialist messages that professionals have experienced following the changes made by Musk.
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