Shillong, October 5: In a departure from traditional media practices, Elon Musk’s X Corp has implemented a change that omits headlines when sharing news articles on the platform. Instead, only the primary image and the web domain name to which the image is linked are displayed.
As per IANS, this alteration was first noticed by iOS users attempting to post links, who found that only an image and the domain name were visible, as reported by The Verge.
However, this change has frustrated X users, as it makes it challenging to discern the content and context of an article without the headline.
Elon Musk has recently been encouraging users to post more content directly on X. In August, he extended an invitation to journalists to publish directly on X, emphasizing the potential for higher income.
On X, posts containing news articles now feature only the lead image and the URL, excluding the headline and text, with links directing users solely to the article’s lead image.
Musk personally announced this change, stating, “This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the aesthetics.”
He had previously advocated for X to adopt a news article format that exclusively displayed a lead image and the source URL, with the image still serving as a clickable link to the article.
It is possible that this modification aims to reduce the vertical space occupied by individual posts, allowing users’ timelines to display more content.
One X user expressed their dissatisfaction with the change, stating, “Aesthetics are one thing, knowing what you’re going to read to want to click on it in the first place is another.”
While Musk’s platform has seen numerous changes that have benefitted both the platform and its users, this particular alteration has sparked debate among followers.