X doesn’t really want people to click on referral links and end up leaving their site, which is why they’ve already downgraded the reach of posts that contain links, changed how link previews are displayed in the stream, and added a native long-form post option instead.
And now the company is testing another way to block link incentivization, one that could have more tangible value to creators.
As you can see This imageposted by an app researcher Nima OujiX is experimenting with a new option that will allow users to block adding links to reply posts within the app.
That way the discussion will be specific to X, rather than using reply threads to send people to other sites.
It has its pros and cons.
On the upside, it blocks spammers looking to get some easy clicks in your reply threads. This can be especially problematic for popular posts and users; you’ll always find random links to crypto scams in replies to the most popular user updates. In that respect, it’s a good way to stop junk merchants from polluting your comments.
However, the downside is that it may limit counterargument discussion by preventing people from posting links to sources that refute the original claim. Of course, X’s answer to this is that community notes should be able to do this work anyway, but may limit the sharing of reference links for this purpose.
But overall, it seems like it could be a beneficial change. Users can choose to turn it on or off on a post-by-post basis, and I doubt most people will care either way. But for larger audiences who want to eliminate spam, it could be a beneficial option, and result in more engagement.
While the full impact won’t be known until it’s actually implemented, this could be another way to manage the discussion around X and keep audiences engaged with the evolving conversation.
