X introduces Long-Form Articles for Premium+ Subscribers

X is taking one step further to advance its short-form content roots, with the introduction of X
Long-Form Articles, which is essentially a blogging platform built into the X system.

As you can see in the above example, X Long-Form Articles include all the basic elements of a
blogging tool, including a title and header image for your post, and various in-stream formatting
options (like bold, italics, numbers lists, links, etc.)

Further, Premium+ users will also be able to embed images and videos into their Articles,
providing more ways to differentiate Articles from long-form posts in the app.

Also, X has made several other upgrades to bring them up to speed with other blogging tools.
But Articles is a more dedicated option for long-form content. The new feature will appear on
users’ profiles in a new Articles tab, as well as in the section, followers’ timeline, just like regular
X posts.

“Articles will also be easily distinguishable thanks to a unique icon and layout, ensuring that your
long-form content stands out.”

In addition, X is hoping that the new format will see more publishers and creators share their
content directly to the app, which is what Elon Musk aims to opt out of.

Elon Musk, back in October 2023, stated:

Interesting.

Our algorithm tries to optimize time spent on X, so links don’t get as much attention, because there is less time spent if people click away.

The best thing is to post content in long form on this platform.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2023

Interesting.

Our algorithm tries to optimize time spent on X, so links don’t get as much attention, because there is less time spent if people click away.

Best thing is to post content in long form on this platform.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2023

X owner, Elon Musk is currently pushing to convert the platform formerly known as Twitter into
his vision for an “everything app”, which would enable all kinds of different functions and
processes in-stream.

To add up, the Long-form content has been in particular a key focus for Musk’s “freedom of
speech” push, with Elon repeatedly calling on “citizen journalists” to share their views on X, in
order to challenge the mainstream media. Musk is convinced is biased, often against him, and
as such, Elon hopes that by giving more people more ways to share their thoughts in the app,
that will help to establish a new information ecosystem, free of outside interference.

However, that may not be true, as Elon has also penalized or suspended various
publications and journalists that he disagrees with. Thus, at least from Elon’s perspective, it is
more balanced, because he’s the one who controls it.

Will this new feature gain more subscribers; Maybe, but the Long-Form articles are only
available to Premium+ users and Verified Organizations subscribers, so not everybody can use
it, only those who are willing to pay a monthly subscription for the app.

Most probably, the ones who will use the new feature, will be Media organizations that are
already paying for Verification, and they will try it out. X will most likely also try to provide some
sort of monetization potential in the future. It will be interesting to see how many users will
want to consume and use the long-form articles in the app.

To sum up, right now it’s difficult to know if this new feature will draw interest. Also as with all of
the metrics that X shares, it does not say that this is reflective of popularity or engagement, over
time we will see if publishers prefer to post directly in the app and if X could develop a more
interesting and incentives on this front.

You can learn more about Long-Form Articles here

Source: Social Media Today

Find more information here: http://bit.ly/2BPQn38

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