Nov 26, 2024 10:54:00

Elon Musk suggests X is deprioritizing posts containing links

It has been reported that Elon Musk, the owner of X (formerly Twitter), has made a statement that seems to acknowledge the user's point when they pointed out that posts containing links on X (formerly Twitter) were being ranked lower. It seems that Musk wants users to stay on X as much as possible.

Elon Musk Admits X is Throttling Link Out from the Platform

https://www.mediaite.com/news/elon-musk-admits-x-is-throttling-links-effectively-limiting-people-from-reading-news/

Elon Musk hints that X throttles posts with links | Mashable

https://mashable.com/article/elon-musk-links-x-twitter

Paul Graham, a programmer with about 2 million followers and co-founder of Y Combinator , posted, 'Twitter's biggest flaw is that it deprioritizes tweets that contain links. I love Twitter because it lets me know what's going on, and without links you can't know that.' Musk responded, 'Just write an explanation in your main post and post the link as a reply. That will eliminate redundant links.'

Just write a description in the main post and put the link in the reply. This just stops lazy linking.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2024

Foreign media outlets such as Mashable reported that Musk's post above suggested that he was lowering the priority of posts with links.

By having users read the text on X's platform instead of clicking on a link, users can prevent themselves from moving to other platforms. It is believed that Musk's intention was to increase engagement by completing everything within X, preventing users from abandoning the platform.

In response to suggestions that posts with links may be being deprioritized, journalist Stephen Monacelli denounced the idea, saying, 'If you're wondering why posts with links to articles aren't getting the engagement you'd expect, here's why. I'm here less and less.'

Elon Musk effectively admits that posts with links are throttled. If you've been wondering why your posts with links to journalistic articles haven't been getting nearly the engagement you would expect, this is why. I have less and less reason to be here. pic.twitter.com/JjwgH6raeu

— stevanzetti.bsky.social (@stevanzetti) November 25, 2024

X has had a 'Notes' feature that allows users to post long texts even before the acquisition by Musk, and it is possible to read the full text of long texts within the X platform without having to access a link. Immediately after the acquisition, Musk promoted 'long text posts' as one of the key elements of X's revitalization.

Elon Musk's top five priorities for reviving Twitter are 'Blue verified mark,' 'Blue for Business,' 'DM encryption,' 'Tweet tips,' and 'Long text posts' - GIGAZINE

When X was called Twitter, the service 'Nuzzel' was developed, which collected links posted by followers on the platform and allowed users to access sites of interest, but it was later acquired by Twitter and integrated into the app. A new service called 'Sill' that can be used like Nuzzel on Mastodon and Bluesky has been released and is available for free.

Create account
https://sill.social/accounts/signup