Twitter

Twitter/X adds tiny headlines on link previews, removes them, then brings them back again [U]

Ben Schoon | Jan 4 2024 - 10:31 am PT

X, the platform better known as Twitter, removed headlines from posts with links a few months ago, but is now bringing them back in a new format.

Rolling out now to Twitter/X’s web client, any posts that have a link preview now show more than just a preview image and the name of the website. Previews now include the headline of the article (or title of the webpage) being linked, but in a very small format.

Update 1/3: Just as quickly as they arrived, Twitter/X’s new headlines on link previews are gone yet again. Public response to the new format was widely negative, but it’s unclear if that has anything to do with the removal, or if Twitter/X will bring these back again. For the time being, link previews have resorted to their context-less images.

Update 1/4: Annnnnnd they’re back. As of this afternoon, the small headlines are showing up once again.

Our original coverage follows.

The preview shows up as white text on a black box in the bottom left corner of the image preview. It replaces the name of the website being linked, which has now been moved to a new line between the link preview and the buttons for reply, repost, and like. The small size of the preview, though, doesn’t work well for all headlines. Anything more than a few words is cut off on the default size, and the problem only gets worse on more narrow views.

The change is, so far, only showing up on the web, but presumably, it’ll expand to the iOS app soon. Twitter/X’s Android app, meanwhile, never stopped showing headlines in their original format.

Twitter/X originally removed headlines in August as Elon Musk pushed for publishers to post directly on the platform. But in November, right after a context-less post from Musk showcased the problem with removing headlines from previews, Musk announced that headlines would return.