Hello, it’s tech reporter Alexandra Sternlicht. Last night my colleague Kylie Robison broke the news that X (formerly Twitter) plans to transform news article links shared on the platform into context-free images. X owner Elon Musk confirmed the move hours after Kylie’s report, saying in a tweet that “this is coming from me directly.” He justified the decision with the rationale that the format “will greatly improve the esthetics.”
While pictures are lovely, the change means that unless users write their own captivating and informative headlines, there's a chance that news will get lost on the social platform most closely associated with news. From its earliest days, Twitter distinguished itself from other social media platforms because of its strengths as a modern-day newswire and its reputation as a public chat room for journalists.
