cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/6334964
X drops headlines from articles, as new report details its bleeding ad revenue::Elon Musk’s X revamped its look to eliminate headlines on article links Wednesday, the same day that Reuters reported the platform has seen massive monthly…
That’s definitely gonna help with reducing pipelines and misinformation 🥴
I’ve been on social media for quite a long time, and I’ve noticed that people have one thing in common: people just like to read the headline and argue endlessly.
(See? I’m doing it right now: writing this part of the comment before reading the article!)
This raises the question: If there is no headlines any more, what’s left?
An endless barrage of people grumbling about nonsense that isn’t even tangentially related to anything? People given a new excuse to pretend the source wasn’t posted in a debate? (…okay, so this is already what’s happening at the birdsite, so I can see why Musk considers this just an aesthetic change.)
Meanwhile, X’s app has a new look, as many users can no longer see a headline on articles posted on the platform. Instead, users see only a blurb at the top, and an image that can be clicked on. The change appeared to be rolling out in stages across different platforms. At last check Wednesday evening, headlines were stripped for many iOS and desktop users, but were apparently still showing up on the Android app.
Many users pointed out that the change is causing confusion, since many posts now lack context from a headline.
The change had been expected, with Musk tweeting in August: “This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the esthetics.”
Yes, Elon, in the same way as a library where all the books have blank covers “improves the esthetics [sic].”
Don’t act shocked. This exactly what the Saudis paid him to do.
He had to give former Twitter shareholders that money and also put up $20 billion, though. He can afford to lose it but I can’t see how he’d profit from this, other than an ideological/power jerkoff.
