Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind companies like Tesla and SpaceX, has again stirred the social media pot.
On Monday evening, Musk, known for his bold and unconventional statements, urged journalists to bypass traditional news outlets and publish their content directly on X, formerly known as Twitter.
- In the tweet on Monday, Musk directly addressed journalists, saying, “If you’re a journalist who wants more freedom to write and a higher income, then publish directly on this platform!” His appeal is part of a broader trend where social media platforms are trying to court content creators, recognizing the value they bring to the platform and the potential for increased user engagement.
If you’re a journalist who wants more freedom to write and a higher income, then publish directly on this platform!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 21, 2023
This call to action comes at a time when X is reportedly testing a significant change to its platform.
According to Forbes, Fortune, cited that an unnamed source revealed the platform is experimenting with a feature that hides headlines and other text from tweets containing links to news articles.
Instead, only the lead image of the news article would be displayed.
The driving force behind this potential change is none other than Elon Musk himself.
He believes that such a modification could be instrumental in “curbing clickbait” and “reducing the height of tweets.” Musk’s influence on the tech world is undeniable, and his endorsement of this alteration has added weight to its significance.
Musk took to X to confirm his involvement, stating in a tweet, “This is coming from me directly. Will greatly improve the aesthetics.”
This announcement has sparked a conversation about the evolving landscape of news dissemination on social media platforms.
Currently, when news links are shared on X, they appear as “cards” that include the lead image, a headline, and a one-line summary.
However, with the proposed change, only the lead image would remain clickable and linked to the article. Publishers would need to manually add any text they want to accompany the tweet.
This move reflects Musk’s broader agenda to encourage more creators and journalists to use X as a direct publishing platform.
He has offered incentives, including a share of ad revenue and subscription revenue, to entice content creators to embrace the platform fully.