X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, has changed its strategy – and its algorithm – in recent months, although the change has not sat well with members of its community. Creators of threads about history, science or various curiosities assure that they no longer have the visibility they used to. They explain in their accounts that the platform now rewards the content that generates the most controversy.
“It is becoming more and more difficult for me to ensure that any content I create actually reaches you,” Javi López, a technology tweeter, explained a few weeks ago. Now the important thing is that there is “interaction”. When a user tweeted “big accounts that have millions of followers don’t interact with their users on ????. You should definitely consider being active on this platform,” Elon Musk -CEO of X- confirmed the change in trend by adding an “exactly” to the message.
To encourage interaction, Musk has monetized X. Daniel Sanchez-Crespo, university professor and video game creator, has more than 125,000 followers on the social network and some of his threads on various topics have gone viral in recent years. A few days ago he said that he had already earned his first 50 euros with
“Today I come to ask you a favor. I need you to insult each other. In my threads. Yes. Call them ‘piece of poop’. Threat each other with death. And me too. Scream. And let them share it. Come on, I’ll start: miserable. I hate them. Well, I have to earn a living. Inside a thread,” Crespo wrote. After digging, he discovered that payment has more to do with responses than views.
Musk wants to put an end to passive scrolling, the gesture of moving your finger from bottom to top without even pausing briefly to give a like. The tycoon wants users to spend more time on his social network. After making more than 13 thousand changes to the algorithm last August, now the key is to interact. The problem is that the type of tweets that generate interaction are the most controversial, which is transferring the clickbait phenomenon to X.
And monetizing X accounts is not easy. There are three essential requirements to do so. The first is to subscribe to Twitter Blue or verified organizations, which involves paying a monthly fee. Then, have a minimum of 500 followers. The third requirement and the most difficult to achieve is having accumulated 15 million impressions in the last three months.
In addition to interactions, tweets that contain videos will also be favored. Of course, it seems that in the post there should not be links to competing platforms, such as YouTube or Instagram. There are users who even claim to have noticed a five-second wait on links to platforms not related to the owner of
The algorithm also takes into account whether topics classified as ‘trending topics’ are discussed when recommending tweets. If the content is not under subscription, it will have less visibility.
For Miquel Pellicer, journalist and director of Digital Communication at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, the X algorithm favors profiles close to the “ultra-right” or better known in the US as the alt-right. To this we must add that the personnel cuts that Musk made as soon as he took possession of the company are affecting the proper functioning of the network. Then, the tycoon’s own personality, who chains one controversy after another, has affected X’s reputation.
Musk’s goal, explains Pellicer, is to look for business models other than advertising after the disbandment of advertisers on Twitter after his arrival. Pellicer believes that the strategy followed “is a somewhat erratic strategy” as it is a social network that has been consolidated for a long time. In the end, he points out, all the changes Musk has made have turned it into an “unstable” platform.
Ferran Lalueza, professor and researcher at the Open University of Catalonia and expert in social networks, estimates that “Twitter has opted for a model in which we spend more time connected to the platform and, as far as possible, there is more interaction.” “, says. The problem, he points out, is that the tweets that generate the most interaction are not the informative ones, “but those that touch on the most sensitive content and with which we all jump more easily.”
Lalueza also talks about an “erratic” strategy, but appreciates that, deep down, the common thread does not differ from the rest of the platforms. All social networks, in order not to be carried away by others, are standardizing their services. Twitter is already on the way and good proof of this is that, if the word was what prevailed, now video will be favored.
