X is contemplating removing two specific post interaction features. After just recently coming off of revamped link previews, X is considering several feature removals. Elon Musk announced potential future changes to the X UI.
The features in concern are the interaction counts and action buttons, which will soon vanish from Feed view. However, despite how it sounds, these features are not being retired, only made “invisible”. If you wish to see these insights, expand the post details.
A Less Cluttered View
X is considering several feature removals, which will vastly clean up the appearance of posts but are also flawed. For one, it will reduce post engagement, based on knowledge from something similar Instagram did in 2019. Research showed that overall post-interactions significantly declined for influencers within the test regions. The lack of immediate access to metrics seems to directly alter user behaviors.
You would assume similar impacts on total re-posts, with peer actions having some effect on broader behaviors. That may not necessarily be a bad thing. Users should act based on their personal responses, not on how others engage. With likes and re-Tweets also impacting post reach, it is easy to imagine how many X users will be displeased. X’s open-sourced algorithm is what allows X creators to maximize their engagement, thus boosting their ad revenue share. So, to simplify, the fewer visible engagement metrics, the lower the likelihood of making good ad revenue.
Instagram further notes that people often use counts ‘to get a sense for what’s trending or popular.’ Taking away that ability would cause some negative impacts. X is the home of real-time engagement and trends, making that a more crucial factor. Removing immediate response options and counts will see less use for these elements. That will likely be an overall activity decline for X since the majority of its in-app activity is via re-posts and quotes.
Some perspectives insinuate that this might lead to positive results. Past research has shown that re-sharing and re-posting can significantly amplify misinformation. This change would limit that, but X needs to market it to its ad partners first. For context, 300 million of X’s 500 million daily posts are re-posts/quotes.
Depending on how X goes about it, the update variably impacts post sharing. The share icon will likely receive less emphasis, limiting expanded discussion and interaction. X further clarifies that it looks to implement more gesture controls as an alternative. It could work. One of the benefits would be less competition on vanity metrics, which puts more emphasis on post reach.
In hindsight, that could also put more emphasis on the content itself while potentially driving more direct post interactions. Furthermore, switching to only view members brings X more in line with YouTube’s metric display. X is also putting more emphasis on video content, so we shall see how that goes, over time.
The Wrap
Everyone shudders a bit whenever X is considering several feature removals. It’s a big shift that requires some time before users adapt to the changes. The primary issue is that X needs to maximize its revenue to return to normal operations. Note that X has racked up billions in debt, so it needs to catch a break however it can. The question is not about the result, but whether or not something like this would be worth it for the app to implement.
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