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X confuses the masses by removing all details from links

theregister.com

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Re: X confuses the masses by removing all details from links

#41

Post by simonw »

ksaj wrote: post #27
optionalsquid wrote: post #19

What are the consequences for people using screen readers? Are the article details still accessible to those users or do they have go entirely by the tweet text?

It'll certainly make it far more important for people to use the ALT tag for descriptions. People have already started protesting by making fake headlines for articles about Elon, so I have a feeling this "feature" won't last very long.

They managed to break things in screenreaders, so the alt text currently doesn't help: https://twitter.com/matteason/status/1709859263919624357

Re: X confuses the masses by removing all details from links

#42

Post by specialist »

autoexec wrote: post #12

If twitter really wants to "boost engagement" I'd suggest maybe not forcing people to log in or have JS enabled, but maybe that's just me. I haven't viewed anything on the platform itself since they made those changes.

I just want to follow my peeps. And maybe some hashtag "news" feeds.

A RSS reader like UI would suffice. Make it fancy if you have to.

I wouldn't even mind inline contextual ads. Or subscriptions. Or paid apps.

And, hot damn, dedupe the noise. All those @#$%^ retweets. Once is enough. FFS.

And I only to see the "pinned" post once. Not every single time I visit.

--

PS, FWIW, nitter hasn't musked up the links. https://nitter.net/drvolts

Re: X confuses the masses by removing all details from links

#43

Post by anonymousab »

snailmailman wrote: post #25
xg15 wrote: post #16

> "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. ... at that point he might as well say "maximize" instead of "optimize"

I don’t understand this move at all. “There is less time spent if people click away” So now people are forced to click every link if they want to see what it’s about? Can’t stay on Twitter and get the headline and lead-in? I would think these link previews let people stay on twitter but what do I know. I’ve stopped using it a long time ago. The mastodon app I use has link previews so this won’t affect me much.

Musk's argument is that not showing any of the content other than the image will force people to instead put the article text content in the Twitter post itself, next to the image. By showing almost no context for a link, it will force posters to manually include more context, and thus people will stay on Twitter longer than when they were generating a bit of context for the embeds (e.g. article title).

Re: X confuses the masses by removing all details from links

#44

Post by dragonwriter »

anonymousab wrote: post #43
snailmailman wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t understand this move at all. “There is less time spent if people click away” So now people are forced to click every link if they want to see what it’s about? Can’t stay on Twitter and get the headline and lead-in? I would think these link previews let people stay on twitter but what do I know. I’ve stopped using it a long time ago. The mastodon app I use has link previews so this won’t affect me much.

Musk's argument is that not showing any of the content other than the image will force people to instead put the article text content in the Twitter post itself, next to the image. By showing almost no context for a link, it will force posters to manually include more context, and thus people will stay on Twitter longer than when they were generating a bit of context for the embeds (e.g. article title).

> By showing almost no context for a link, it will force posters to manually include more context, and thus people

... will feel compelled to pay for Twitter, since to post significant text in a tweet you need to pay.

That's the real goal, to push people to paud accounts, not to make Twitter stickier.

Re: X confuses the masses by removing all details from links

#45

Post by avgcorrection »

plorkyeran wrote: post #31
avgcorrection wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Brits will have to get used to outsiders not understanding their culture as much as they did in the past.

Alternatively non-Brits may need to recognize that they aren't the primary target audience of British media and it's not a problem if they misunderstand something.

The Britishness of this piece flew under my radar on account of it being an article about Twitter/X.

Re: X confuses the masses by removing all details from links

#46

Post by adrianmsmith »

pschuegr wrote: post #40

I like how Musk claims it was done for aesthetic reasons. Yes, we can see from the site design that you care deeply about aesthetics...

Agreed.

Check out this animation posted by Elon Musk in the last few days https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1710561314278379959 where the X jerks slightly before it rotates, and then rotates off-center...

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