X continues to roll out a range of smaller app updates, with new Head of Product Nikita Bier looking to address long-standing issues with the app, with a view to driving more engagement.
And while some of them are relatively minor, some could have a significant impact on X usage, depending on the specifics of how they’re rolled out within the app.
First off, drafts on X created in the app will now be available on the web version, and vice versa, addressing a long-standing creator annoyance.
So now, whenever you create a draft in the app, you’ll be able to finish and post it from another platform, by accessing that initial thought or prompt in the app.
It’s not 100% perfect as yet (media synching is not yet active), while it’s only available on iOS. But again, it’s a long-standing issue that it’s now significantly improved, and will soon be rectified, according to Bier.
X is also looking to add more details to user profiles, in order to help address bots and spam accounts, by including more data on when the account was created, the creators’ location, and username changes.
As explained by Bier:
“When you read content on X, you should be able to verify its authenticity. This is critical to getting a pulse on important issues happening in the world. As part of that, we're experimenting with displaying new information on profiles, including which country an account is based, among other details. Starting next week, we will surface this on a handful of profiles of X team members to get feedback.”
Facebook offers similar for Facebook Pages, providing additional ways for users to verify such details, and potentially uncover inconsistencies.
This is part of a broader push to address bot activity in the app, which was one of Elon Musk’s key elements of focus when he originally purchased the platform, with Bier also noting that X removed 1.7 million bot accounts last week.
Some users have raised privacy concerns, as they may not want their location revealed, and X is looking at certain options on this front. But it could provide more context for account assessment.
Bier is also looking to address some of the key drivers of activity in the app, in encouraging creators to keep posting, and sharing links.
On creators, Bier says that X is currently exploring new ways to recognize and reward creators “who were the original catalyst of a global trend or discussion.”
So if you have a massively viral post, maybe X will pay you more, as part of its creator payout scheme. There’s not a lot to go on as yet, but it could provide more drivers to keep people sharing their updates, and with only around 20% of X users ever posting anything at all in the app, this relatively small group of active users is crucial to its ongoing performance.
X is also looking into its current penalties for including links in your posts.
As outlined in X’s open source algorithm code, posts that include links currently suffer a significant reach penalty, as X would prefer to keep people in the app, as opposed to driving traffic to other sources. The idea, then, was that by penalizing links, more people would look to post direct to the app, but that clearly hasn’t worked in practice, as X is now looking to revise this element.
“Starting next week we’ll be testing a new way to share and engage with web links on X. The goal will be to ensure all content on the platform has equal visibility on timeline.”
Again, not a heap to go on as yet, but this could mean that links no longer suffer the same level of reach penalties, which could make the platform more appealing for publishers.
X is also expanding alpha testing for its new “X Lite” Android experience.
Available for testing among X Premium subscribers, the updated Android experience is “more focused experience on the core of X.”
So, some potentially interesting, and potentially valuable X updates, which could have a significant impact, depending on how they actually work in application.
These are part of Bier’s broader effort to get engagement at the platform back on track, which he claims to have done, in large part, based on download numbers, which Bier claims have been improving over recent months.
We’ll have to wait and see what X’s actual user numbers are, but right now, Bier is confident that his team is working to refresh and revitalize X engagement, with the latest round of tweaks set to address more key concerns in this respect.
