The number of changes made on X, formerly known as Twitter, is already extensive. Ever since Elon Musk acquired the platform, users have been seeing "developments" that they don't even want. It looks like Musk already recognizes this as he reverses one of those changes.
X Will Show Headlines Again
The microblogging platform is considered to be one of the go-to sites for the latest news, which was proven when the entire OpenAI fiasco was monitored through X. With that fact, people still don't understand the purpose of Elon Musk removing headlines in preview links.
Not to worry because that decision will not last for long. In the X owner's recent post, he stated that the X overlay title above the image of a URL card will return in the upcoming release. This serves as good news, especially to news publications who share their links on the site.
The shift in format was first announced back in August, with Musk saying that removing the titles with URLs was for "improved aesthetics." It wasn't long after that the platform implemented the change as headlines were no longer included by October, as per Tech Crunch.
News outlets and other users had no choice but to write the headline in the image preview, or include it in the post through text. This was to save viewers from the trouble of having to open the URL to find out what it was about.
Some argue that this was X's way of encouraging more users to use its long-form feature when it comes to posts, meaning that news publications and other writers would post their entire articles on the social media site.
Of course, that was not something most would do since X is simply used as a channel to attract more readers. Posting the entire article on the platform would mean that news publications would lose web traffic for their native sites.
This is the soundest decision that the X owner has made recently, especially with the entire controversy around Musk agreeing to an antisemitic conspiracy theory on his own social media site. Headlines might encourage other accounts to remain on X as more advertisers leave.
X Losing Business
It's hard to miss the news about advertisers leaving the microblogging site, especially since some of the major companies who joined the exodus were pretty vocal about their disappointment with Elon Musk's views.
Advertisers like Apple, IBM, Warner Bros. Discovery, Lionsgate, and more have concluded their ad business with X. Even video game studio Ubisoft joined the exodus. While many did not state why they left X, it's not hard to guess given the timing of their departure.
Despite all the bad press and losing business, X CEO Linda Yaccarino remains optimistic, stating that the exits were "temporarily paused investments," as shown on The Verge with Yaccarino's memo to X staff.
She also claims that the issue has only been amplified due to a misleading and manipulated article, which was likely that of Media Matters. Regardless, advertisers are not likely to return especially since Musk has threatened them with a "thermonuclear lawsuit."
