X is “testing a new link experience” that opens links without fully covering an X post, letting users see the Like, Repost, and other buttons, starting on iOS
to make it easier for your followers to engage with your post while browsing links. For creators, a common complaint is that posts with links tend to get lower reach. This is because the web browser covers the post and people forget to Like or Reply. So X doesn't get a clear signal whether the content is any good. To help get better signal, posts will now collapse to the bottom of the page so people can react while you're reading... Nikita Bier / @nikitabier : If you're a writer or journalist who left X in the last couple years, coming back could be the biggest arbitrage opportunity of your career. Joanna Stern / @joannastern : Great news if this really works! Dan Rowden / @dr : I actually love this UI. Keep the article native and layer on the social actions Peter Kafka / @pkafka : @JoannaStern Curious bc in the past when asked about this Musk and his leaders were clear that they wanted people to hang out on his platform - if you had something interesting to say you should post it on the platform. It wasnt framed as a technical problem, but as a strategy. Andrew Ross Sorkin / @andrewrsorkin : Super excited about trying this...nice work @nikitabier + @elonmusk John Furrier / @furrier : Pro tip on X posts cc @SiliconANGLE Prachee Avasthi / @pracheeac : Can confirm this works [image] Sam Henri Gold / @samhenrigold : it's all bullshit all the way down [video] @0xdesigner : babe wake up a new design pattern just dropped Cid / @theonecid : X in-app browser comparison 😭 [video] Hiten Shah / @hnshah : The original KISSmetrics account grew because we curated and shared links with the community that formed around the hashtag #measure Looking forward to this! Will Ahmed / @willahmed : Smart UI update from X. Allows for links + engagement Jonah Katz / @dinkin_flickaa : We've fixed webviews Michael Luo / @azianmike : I hope this A/B tests well because this is such a unique UX. The creativity and execution that went into this is 👌 Joe Gebbia / @jgebbia : 👏🏼👏🏼 Tom Critchlow / @tomcritchlow : Mark my words, I think this is the start of the great 2026 in-app browser expansion. Every platform is going to follow suit. Anselm Eickhoff / @anselm_io : wow I'm a @nikitabier appreciater now Nick Neuman / @nneuman : This is a wild example demonstrating the difficulty of good product design. Everyone has jumped through hoops for 2 years to post links because they thought Elon deranked posts with links. Now they are saying they aren't deranked - they just don't get as much reach because Jason Evanish / @evanish : This looks like an amazingly well designed experience to solve the links problem on X. Well thought out and great user experience. 👏👏👏 Gagan Ghotra / @gaganghotra_ : It's interesting that just days before xAI's Grokpedia goes live X is making link sharing easier 🤔 is there more to it like Grokpedia long form encyclopedia style pages somehow getting natively integrated in X 🤨 [image] Ben Thompson / @benthompson : Great site example! @stratechery was built on Twitter. It was always disappointing it basically died as a distribution channel, but what really bummed me out is that others didn't have the same opportunity to get big enough to manage without. Very glad to see these changes. @hishboy : Credit where it's due. I always appreciate top-tier UX and this is one of the best takes. Why? You can visit the external website without leaving X, and still interact with all X primary actions. Nice job @nikitabier and team 👏🏼 Katie Notopoulos / @katienotopoulos : My read is that this doesn't affect the algorithm per se, but creates a lower like/retweet nav bar while you scroll a link so that you're more aware you still inside the X app (and ideally I guess like or rt the post?). I think that's actually a pretty good addition to the in-app Ken Klippenstein / @kenklippenstein : Credit where due: Twitter is the only platform that's even tried to address the problem of hyperlinks being de-boosted into oblivion Maximiliano Firtman / @firt : X is testing a new webview-based in-app browser that will replace Safari View Controller when you click on links. This will replicate the experience on TikTok and Meta social apps, which is typically bad news for security, usability, and access to daily browser functions. Jay Baxter / @_jaybaxter_ : This is huge. Optimistic it will both: 1) be a nicer link-reading experience 2) improve reach for posts with links It's not widely enough known that organic like rates on posts with links are naturally lower even without any algorithmic penalty, in part because users will just Max Schoening / @mschoening : This is the first feature since the rebrand that I'm excited about. People are going to do all sorts of great things with this. Neil Cybart / @neilcybart : Wait a minute. Looks like X's official stance is now that posts with links weren't being pushed as far as posts without links because people were so busy off platform reading the linked content that they forgot to like/reply the X post. If you actually believe that...LOL. Nicolas Cole / @nicolascole77 : If this works, and sticks as a feature, this will have a very big impact on where to write in 2026+ Something I talk about often is how, once every 2-5 years, a new writing platform and/or feature emerges that presents an arbitrage opportunity to distribute your writing. In Emerson T. Brooking / @etbrooking : ironically: return to normal linking, retirement of account monetization, and actual anti-spam could catapult X to the top of most useable platforms. because others have gotten so much worse in this time. Peter Suhm / @petersuhm : open graph images are important again! Katie Notopoulos / @katienotopoulos : My read is that this doesn't affect the algorithm per se, but creates a lower like/retweet nav bar while you scroll a link so that you're more aware you still inside the X app (and ideally I guess like or rt the post?). I think that's actually a pretty good addition to the in-app Khaled / @eltokh7 : he can easilyyyy answer the question “What did you get done this week” every week Montana Wong / @montana_wong : Since the links are loaded via embedded webpages, mini apps will now work directly from Twitter Tobi Lutke / @tobi : This should be good upgrade for commerce on X Frank Dale / @frankcdale : This is a great product solution. It's going to become the standard across so many apps. Hats off to the team that designed and delivered it. Neil Horowitz / @njh287 : This potential new link experience actually looks...kinda good? Nikita Bier seems to be a great hire to lead Twitter's product (in ChatGPT brainstorms, I would sometimes tell the agent to think like him in devising product/growth strategies) Jihad / @jaesmail : New Golden Era of personal websites incoming @yimbyland : If Nikita ends up saving this website, he's going to go down as one of the greatest product guys of all time. @ghost_rezin : This is a win for both sides. Creators keep their reach and consumers stay engaged with the content they're reading. Links will no longer drive you away from the platform, thus helping combat against throttled reach. Incredible solution inside a clean UX. Another Nikita W. Taylor Lorenz / @taylorlorenz : Nikita is speedrunning fixing all the problems on this website Bluesky: @stonehead : “A common complaint is that posts with links tend to get lower reach. This is because the web browser covers the post and people forget to Like or Reply. So X doesn't get a clear signal whether the content is any good.” — Nikita Bier is a liar. X deboosts links on purpose, without any better signal. See also Mediagazer
We're testing a new link experience, starting on iOS — to make it easier for your followers to engage with your post while browsing links. For creators, a common complaint is that posts with links tend to get lower reach. This is because the web browser covers the post and peop…
@JoannaStern Curious bc in the past when asked about this Musk and his leaders were clear that they wanted people to hang out on his platform - if you had something interesting to say you should post it on the platform. It wasnt framed as a technical problem, but as a strategy.
The original KISSmetrics account grew because we curated and shared links with the community that formed around the hashtag #measure Looking forward to this!
This is a wild example demonstrating the difficulty of good product design. Everyone has jumped through hoops for 2 years to post links because they thought Elon deranked posts with links. Now they are saying they aren't deranked - they just don't get as much reach because
It's interesting that just days before xAI's Grokpedia goes live X is making link sharing easier 🤔 is there more to it like Grokpedia long form encyclopedia style pages somehow getting natively integrated in X 🤨 [image]
Great site example! @stratechery was built on Twitter. It was always disappointing it basically died as a distribution channel, but what really bummed me out is that others didn't have the same opportunity to get big enough to manage without. Very glad to see these changes.
Credit where it's due. I always appreciate top-tier UX and this is one of the best takes. Why? You can visit the external website without leaving X, and still interact with all X primary actions. Nice job @nikitabier and team 👏🏼
My read is that this doesn't affect the algorithm per se, but creates a lower like/retweet nav bar while you scroll a link so that you're more aware you still inside the X app (and ideally I guess like or rt the post?). I think that's actually a pretty good addition to the in-app
X is testing a new webview-based in-app browser that will replace Safari View Controller when you click on links. This will replicate the experience on TikTok and Meta social apps, which is typically bad news for security, usability, and access to daily browser functions.
This is huge. Optimistic it will both: 1) be a nicer link-reading experience 2) improve reach for posts with links It's not widely enough known that organic like rates on posts with links are naturally lower even without any algorithmic penalty, in part because users will just
Wait a minute. Looks like X's official stance is now that posts with links weren't being pushed as far as posts without links because people were so busy off platform reading the linked content that they forgot to like/reply the X post. If you actually believe that...LOL.
If this works, and sticks as a feature, this will have a very big impact on where to write in 2026+ Something I talk about often is how, once every 2-5 years, a new writing platform and/or feature emerges that presents an arbitrage opportunity to distribute your writing. In
ironically: return to normal linking, retirement of account monetization, and actual anti-spam could catapult X to the top of most useable platforms. because others have gotten so much worse in this time.
My read is that this doesn't affect the algorithm per se, but creates a lower like/retweet nav bar while you scroll a link so that you're more aware you still inside the X app (and ideally I guess like or rt the post?). I think that's actually a pretty good addition to the in-app
This potential new link experience actually looks...kinda good? Nikita Bier seems to be a great hire to lead Twitter's product (in ChatGPT brainstorms, I would sometimes tell the agent to think like him in devising product/growth strategies)
This is a win for both sides. Creators keep their reach and consumers stay engaged with the content they're reading. Links will no longer drive you away from the platform, thus helping combat against throttled reach. Incredible solution inside a clean UX. Another Nikita W.
“A common complaint is that posts with links tend to get lower reach. This is because the web browser covers the post and people forget to Like or Reply. So X doesn't get a clear signal whether the content is any good.” — Nikita Bier is a liar. X deboosts links on purpose, w…