Elon Musk told X users this week that the best way to drive engagement is to post long-form content directly to the platform and not link to other sites.
Mr. Musk, who owns X, responded to a chart showing that news redirects from Facebook and X have declined dramatically in the past year. He said the X algorithm is intentionally biased against external links.
“Out algorithm tries to optimize time spent on X,” he wrote. “So links don’t get as much attention, because there is less time spent if people click away.”
Most X users are not allowed to post what could be called long-format content. The ability to post content beyond just a few characters is limited to those who pay for X Premium.
Mr. Musk’s comment signals a new direction for the site that has long been known for its short text content. When the site was called Twitter, it was widely used by news organizations and freelance writers to link to their blogs or websites.
Soon after Mr. Musk took over the company late last year, he made it clear that such practices were going to be unavailable. He soon started a war of words with the blogging platform Substack and throttled links to the site.
More recently, Mr. Musk announced he would remove headlines from news article links, a move that many in the industry saw as a direct attack on the news business. Mr. Musk said removing headlines would “improve aesthetics.”
Mr. Musk also has worked to secure content besides text since he took ownership of X. He persuaded former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to provide his show on X, and has hinted at hosting sports content on the site.
The move to diversify X’s content is likely part of Mr. Musk’s plan to turn the social network into an “everything” app where users can get access to all kinds of services, from shopping to entertainment.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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