SOCIAL
New Analysis Reveals How X is Evolving its Feed Algorithm, and What it’s Looking to Emphasize
Looking for ways to maximize your engagement on X, and tap into the latest algorithm shifts?
The X algorithm is being updated regularly, in alignment with Elon’s X vision, and the latest changes could have an impact on your posting strategy, based on what the X team are looking to incentivize.
X user @NFT_GOD (“I promise I’m cool despite the name”) has analyzed the latest changes, based on the open-sourced code, and has found these key updates to X’s algorithmic approach.
Replies are being emphasized
According to the code, X is now looking to amplify replies to posts, with replies to content now getting more exposure than even retweets in the main “For You” feed.
Replies are a key component of X’s ad revenue share strategy, with creators getting a share of the ad intake from ads shown in the reply stream. As such, it seems like X is trying to show more eligible ads, by highlighting more replies, which will ideally get even more people engaging in the same conversation, this expanding the potential for ad display.
Conceptually, this could spark more conversations through exposure, but it could also see more conversations that you’re not interested in taking over your main feed. Incentivizing replies will also lead to more engagement bait posts, and those replies may not be as engaging as conversation starters. But it’s an interesting experiment nonetheless, and something that you should factor into your X planning.
Video Push
X is also looking to put more emphasis on video content, while the “You might like” tag is set to be replaced with “Popular videos”.
This is part of X’s broader effort to get more people consuming more video content in the app, which X will then be able to monetize by inserting ads, and generating more revenue share options for video creators.
Elon has said that he wants X to compete with YouTube, while new X CEO Linda Yaccarino is most experienced in selling ads against video content. The launch of Tucker Carlson’s X exclusive show is just the start of what’s likely to be a much bigger video push in the app, and the algorithm is now being re-aligned around this approach, while X is also developing new video viewing controls, and its full-screen video display.
Subscription content
X is also looking to highlight creators that have subscriptions turned on, with more posts and updates from these creators now set to appear in X feeds.
Again, X is keen to build its creator monetization ecosystem, in a bid to win over more top talent, and keep them sharing in the app. That seems to be the motivation in this case, highlighting popular creators to potentially interested users, in order to help them get more paying subscribers in the app.
That could provide more benefit for turning on subscriptions.
Longer post life span
X is also expanding the amount of time that a post is eligible to be displayed in the main feed from 24 hours to 48 hours.
I’m not sure about this one. On one hand, by expanding the potential life of a trending post, that will give X more opportunity to show the best-performing content to even more users. But at the same time, the platform has traditionally been a key source of real-time updates, and this could reduce the value of the feed in this respect.
The concept here seems to be inspired by TikTok, in taking the best content, no matter who or when it was posted, and showing that to as many people as possible, in order to increase engagement. In this sense, X’s approach is still more aligned with trending news, but it may have an impact on real-time updates.
X vs Threads
As expected, X is also penalizing mentions of the term ‘Threads’ as well as links to the Meta competitor. Evidently, mentioning other competing social media apps also results in a reach penalty, which is not great news for a dedicated social media news website that has to mention other social apps in its posts every day.
I’m not sure how far this extends in terms of post versus profile deboosting, but mentioning the competition is not something that Elon is open to.
I’d suggest using alternative descriptors, like the thread emoji instead, which many people are already doing.
These are some interesting notes on the latest X updates, and the elements that Elon and Co. are looking to emphasize as they evolve the app. Some of these will have unintended consequences, which is impact of losing so many experienced staff, but maybe, the new X team will also be able to come across new efficiencies and improvements as a result as well, by trying things that other apps have long dismissed.
You can read more on X’s latest algorithm updates here.
SOCIAL
Musk regrets controversial post but won’t bow to advertiser ‘blackmail’
Elon Musk’s comments at the New York Times’ Dealbook conference drew a shocked silence – Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP Slaven Vlasic
Elon Musk apologized Wednesday for endorsing a social media post widely seen as anti-Semitic, but accused advertisers who are turning away from his social media platform X of “blackmail” and said anyone who does so can “go fuck yourself.”
The remark before corporate executives at the New York Times’ Dealbook conference drew a shocked silence.
Earlier, Musk had apologized for what he called “literally the worst and dumbest post that I’ve ever done.”
In a comment on X, formerly Twitter, Musk on November 15 called a post “the actual truth” that said Jewish communities advocated a “dialectical hatred against whites,” which was criticized as echoing longtime conspiracy theory among White supremacists.
The statement prompted a flood of departures from X of major advertisers, including Apple, Disney, Comcast and IBM who criticized Musk for anti-semitism.
“I’m sorry for that tweet or post,” Musk said Wednesday. “It was foolish of me.”
He told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin that his post had been misinterpreted and that he had sought to clarify the remark in subsequent posts to the thread.
But Musk also said he wouldn’t be beholden to pressure from advertisers.
“If somebody’s gonna try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money?” Musk said. “Go fuck yourself.”
But the billionaire acknowledged that there were business implications to the advertiser actions.
“If the company fails… it will fail because of an advertiser boycott” Musk said. “And that will be what will bankrupt the company.”
Musk, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to Israel earlier this week, insisted in the interview that he holds no discrimination against Jews, calling himself “philo-Semitic,” or an admirer of Judaism.
During the interview, Musk wore a necklace given to him by a parent of an Israeli hostage taken in the Hamas attack on October 7. The necklace reads, “Bring Them Home.”
Musk told Sorkin that the Israel trip had been planned earlier and was not an “apology tour” related to the controversial tweet.
SOCIAL
TikTok Encourages Creators To Make Longer Videos, With Focus On Ad Revenue 11/30/2023
A new report by The Information shows the company’s recent efforts to convince
creators to put out longer videos in order to provide more room for ad placements.
According to the …
SOCIAL
X Adds Option To Embed Videos in Isolation From Posts
Next time you go to embed an X post, you may notice a new step:
Now, X will enable you to choose whether you want to embed the video element in isolation, or the whole post, as normal.
And if you do choose to embed just the video (or GIF), it’ll look like this:
Which could be a helpful way to present X-originated video on third-party websites, and add context to, say, your blog post, without the clutter of the full X framing.
But it could also reduce brand exposure for X, which is likely why Twitter didn’t enable this before, though it did once provide an “embedded video widget” which essentially served the same purpose.
Twitter gradually seemed to phase that out as the platform evolved, and there’s no specific reason that I can find as to why it removed it as an option. But either way, now, it’s back, so you have more options for using X-originated content, and putting more focus on video elements specifically.
Though I don’t know why they didn’t also take the opportunity to remove the ‘Tweet’ reference. Since the re-brand to X, the platform seems to have gone to little effort to weed out all the tweet and bird terminology, but then again, with 80% fewer staff, that’s probably understandable as well.
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