X confuses the masses by removing all details from links
- Reference: 1696532408
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/10/05/x_twitter_links_details/
- Source link:
Gone are any context clues to suggest links are anything more than images - titles, subheads - everything but the domain name of the linked site are gone on the X mobile app for iOS and on X.com for this reporter and plenty others.
Musk [1]confirmed the decision to change how links are displayed on his personal platform in late August after [2]leaked internal documents suggesting the website would make the change to reduce the height of individual tweets in order to squeeze more content onscreen and, in the process, boost engagement apparently.
[3]
Be glad we write such great captions or you'd have no idea what's going on here ... Click to enlarge
While not admitting engagement was the point, Musk said he wanted to change the layout to "greatly improve the esthetics" [sic] of the website - but that was August. Now it's October, and Musk's singing a different tune.
"Our algorithm tries to optimize time spent on X, so links don't get as much attention, because there is less time spent if people click away," the billionaire said. There's something closer to the truth.
[4]
Regardless of the motive, X [5]staff and users don't seem convinced - at least at a cursory glance of the home feed of X, where some describe the change as confusing, and others point out that it's a great way to make it harder to discern a malicious link from a safe one.
Great timing, Elon
If nothing else, the latest X change will definitely give CEO Linda Yaccarino something to talk about with the banks that helped Musk buy X last year when she meets with them later today - and they might not be thrilled about the move.
Yaccarino is reportedly set to meet with Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, British bank Barclays, Japanese banks MUFG and Mizuho, and French financial institutions BNP Paribas and Société Générale to discuss plans not to leave them in the lurch as the value of X's assets have [6]plummeted by two thirds in the past year.
[7]Musk, Yaccarino contradict each other on status of X's election integrity team
[8]The Anti Defamation League is Musk's latest excuse for Twitter's tanking ad revenue
[9]Musk's first year as Twitter's Dear Leader is nigh
[10]Twitter engineer calls out Elon Musk for technical BS in unusual career move
As we reported when Musk first announced the move to change how links are displayed, advertisers - already unhappy with X over [11]brand safety issues and seemingly [12]staying away in large numbers - weren't pleased with the idea, at least according to unnamed sources who spoke to Fortune.
"She has to get [Musk] out," an unnamed banker from one of X's lenders [13]told the Financial Times of the future of X. "They need ad dollars to come back," the banker said, adding that it wasn't clear whether that would happen as long as Musk kept up his usual inflammatory habits.
[14]
With huge interest payments to those banks continuing to come due and X's value incredibly unclear - but unlikely to have appreciated - the banks might be getting [15]impatient to see some improvement as Musk's first year of ownership draws to a close. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/22/x_link_chaos/
[2] https://fortune.com/2023/08/21/elon-musk-plans-remove-headlines-news-articles-link-shared-on-x-twitter/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/05/hospital_cat_incident/
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZR8yBA0-PoJYmzzs3ywF4QAAARU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://twitter.com/kyliebytes/status/1709669641814176162
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/31/twitter_value_decline/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/28/x_election_integrity/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/05/twitter_adl_lawsuit/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/02/musk_first_year_twitter/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/14/musk_twitter_rpc_spat/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/09/x_tries_to_win_back/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/05/twitter_adl_lawsuit/
[13] https://www.ft.com/content/474b30e9-a726-4571-8475-9adabbbc8169
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZR8yBA0-PoJYmzzs3ywF4QAAARU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/elon-musks-x-is-black-hole-value-2023-10-03/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Making Twitter less useful every day
Our algorithm tries to optimize time spent on X, so links don't get as much attention, because there is less time spent if people click away
If you don't want people posting links why not ban that practice altogether? Force people to have copy/paste the URL into a browser window by rendering it as text rather than a link? I mean, so long as you're well on your way towards burning down Twitter and turning into an "everything app" no wants or will ever use, why not pour gasoline on that fire?
"optimize" [sic] - I don't think that word means what Elon thinks it means
"Maximise" time spent on X, sure. "Minimise" staff and rent costs, sure.
Cats and Vultures
Be glad we write such great captions or you'd have no idea what's going on here
The banks are also cats and have computers. They are sometimes nice, independent and will claw you for no good reason if they feel like it. In the Xcreetion case, the milk is sour, mice have abandoned ship, rats have spread to feed on the abundance of leftovers and vultures are circling their next great meal.
So the Cats will soon claw and the Vultures report?
Re: Cats and Vultures
What on Earth were the banks thinking of to lend him money in the first place? He'd bid so much that he tried to get out of it almost immediately.
Re: Cats and Vultures
"What on Earth were the banks thinking of to lend him money in the first place?"
Easy.
1) It's not our money....
2) If we get repaid with interest we'll pay ourselves huge bonuses for our Einsteinian business skills!
3) If we don't, it's just an acceptable business risk, and...
4) If we don't and it's part of a wider souring of the economy we'll all get bailed out by the taxpayer as per usual.
Re: Cats and Vultures
Musk's companies have a long history of borrowing money and paying it back early. Banks like that.
GJC
You can never away
> "Our algorithm tries to optimize time spent on X, so links don't get as much attention, because there is less time spent if people click away," the billionaire said.
Ah ha! That finally explains the logic behind chasing away the advertisers!
If you see an interesting ad, you may be tempted to click on it and leave the Muskverse.
Ooh, look at that: "Hot programmers in my area in need of debugging". If you'll excuse me...
I set up a website (non tech related) and part of the work I did was to post a link to Twitter to the site with a new news article on it. I've been looking at the analytics and it's tiny numbers of course for something so new and with no promotion, but clicks from Twitter were steadily going up until a day or two ago where they've just nose dived. I don't use Twitter myself anymore so I'd not noticed anything (my fault) so it's good to know why the clicks have dropped off.
Thanks Elon! Here's a lager top for you, made with salmonella laced lemonade. Enjoy!
"She has to get Musk out," an unnamed banker from one of X's lenders said
Hilarious. These banks insist on all manner of strict credit and background checks before they'll lend any normal person a single groat, yet they let themselves be so dazzled by the "Musk genius" bullshit without noticing any of the vast available evidence of him being a complete asshole that they desperately chucked billions at him in order to be part of this fiasco.
See also the cryptokid currently on trial for another similar example of this sort of stupidity.
Now they want him out
If the banks think he is a band thing why the hell did they lend the money for him to buy it in the first place? His lack of judgement was always plain to see. There are other words to describe him but I'll stick with that for now. How long til the banks call in the loans I wonder?
It's a silly name change
I tell you three times
Meh !!!
Musk 'stirs the pot', again, and maintains never ending reportage of company previously known as Twitter !!!
Quelle Surprise ..... not !!!
:)