X had ceased displaying headlines on shared links, reportedly for aesthetic reasons.
X, the Elon Musk-owned microblogging site, seems to be reversing a controversial change effected last year that impacted how we see links on the platform. The social media site is reportedly bringing back headlines on link previews for articles. The move comes months after X had stopped displaying headlines on shared links for apparent aesthetic reasons, according to Musk. Links only appeared as a splash image in the post, which when clicked would take you to the corresponding news article or website. The change largely did not go down well, with users complaining about the lack of clarity in posts that contained external links.
According to a report in The Verge, X seems to be bringing back headlines for shared link previews on the site. There is, however, a small change. Headlines and website names now show up on the bottom left of the preview image in a tiny font. This is different from the URL cards that traditionally appear on most social media platforms while sharing external links. Longer headlines might also get cut off with the new way to show headlines on shared links.
While several news outlets have spotted headlines coming back on article links, neither X nor Musk has confirmed the return of the feature. For what it’s worth, the feature does not seem to have come into effect in India.
Back in August, Musk had pushed through to make headlines vanish from links shared on the platform. The billionaire owner had said that the decision had come from him directly and would “greatly improve the aesthetics” on the site.
NEWS: X is changing how news links show up on the timeline.
It will strip out the headline/text so links display only an article’s lead image. pic.twitter.com/yseGs58i3Z
— X Daily News (@xDaily) August 22, 2023
The removal of headlines, however, resulted in confusion regarding link sharing, as posts with links no longer provided information about the content of the linked articles. Previously, news links appeared as “cards” on the timeline, featuring an image, URL address, and a concise headline, making it easier for users to understand the linked content. Following the change, link previews on X only displayed the lead image from a news article. This prompted news publications to adapt their posting strategies on the platform.
Under Elon Musk’s stewardship, X, formerly known as Twitter, has implemented and reversed several features since late 2022. In the previous month, the platform began the rollout of Grok, an AI chatbot developed by Musk’s AI firm xAI. Currently, Grok is exclusively available to X Premium+ Subscribers on Web, iOS, and Android.