Twitter begins rolling out publicly visible tweet view counts, expanding on private analytics; Elon Musk says view counts will help show how “alive Twitter is”

Twitter is rolling out a feature that shows how many people view your tweets, similar to features on platforms …

TechCrunch 2022-12-23 Amanda Silberling

Context & Ripple Effects

Twitter is making a previously private analytics measure visible on every post, following its earlier effort to put quote-tweet counts directly on tweets so that an interaction metric was easier to interpret. The rollout also extends Twitter's existing use of view counts for video.

The move gives Elon Musk's stated goal of showing how active the service is a public, post-level signal rather than an account-holder-only analytics measure.

First-order effects

Twitter users can now see a post's reach without access to the author’s private analytics, adding views alongside visible interaction counts.
Elon Musk and Twitter gain a public metric to support claims about activity on the service.

Second-order effects

Creators and publishers can use public views to compare distribution across posts, not just visible replies, reposts, and likes.
Twitter’s earlier timeline placement for live broadcasts and its First View ad format make visible reach a more legible measure for content and advertising inventory alike.

Third-order effects

If Twitter continues surfacing analytics as public counters, status on the platform shifts further toward measurable distribution rather than engagement alone.
Public reach metrics can make platform-health claims easier to inspect, while also raising the stakes for how Twitter defines and presents a view.

The trend: Social platforms are turning internal distribution analytics into public signals of reach and platform activity.

Discussion

@rodhilton@mastodon.social Rod Hilton on mastodon
The most interesting thing about “view count” is that it's not a reflection of how much an audience likes a post - that would be likes. It's also not a measure of how well it's performing, that's RT count. …
@ChrisPirillo@mastodon.social Chris Pirillo on mastodon
twitter is the amazing restaurant under new management that now waters down drinks, swaps ingredients for cheaper alternatives, and constantly yells at staff in front of the customers
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
Twitter is rolling out View Count, so you can see how many times a tweet has been seen! This is normal for video. Shows how much more alive Twitter is than it may seem, as over 90% of Twitter users read, but don't tweet, reply or like, as those are public actions.
@vrunt @vrunt on x
the view data for tweets is not aggregate in the raw API call. you can see a full list of everyone who has viewed any tweet lmao
@zachsilberberg Zach Silberberg on x
what the fuck are these new features https://twitter.com/...
@stammy @stammy on x
I worked on this at Twitter in 2015. IIRC we tested it and most people didn't get any views and we had to have some thresholds before showing it as “0 views” was depressing We also wanted to be accurate and not count if someone quickly scrolls past your tweet in their TL https://…
@kennygesserit @kennygesserit on x
UI design is my passion https://twitter.com/...
@jaubreyyt @jaubreyyt on x
It cannot be overstated how genuinely nauseating this looks https://twitter.com/...
@charlesarthur Charles Arthur on x
Looks like we're going to run another experiment to confirm the 90:9:1 ratio again: for every 1 person who creates, 9 interact, 90 observe. (Though it's probably more like 1-4-95 or even more skewed away from interaction overall.) https://twitter.com/...
@wallstreetsilv Wall Street Silver on x
If a celebrity or “journalist” has 2 million followers and barely gets any views on their tweets because they purchased 1.9 million fake followers in order to appear to be A-List ... 😲 This will expose lots of fake followers purchased by so called media stars and celebs. 🤣 https:…
@nima_owji Nima Owji on x
Twitter now returns the number of views a tweet has. I think they're going to launch it soon! https://t.co/t0YVp9M0S2
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
Tweets are read ~100 times more than they are liked
@gavinsbaker Gavin Baker on x
This is a good new feature - I believe the results will be surprising to many and powerful for advertisers. https://techcrunch.com/...
@nima_owji Nima Owji on x
@elonmusk It's only visible to the tweets that have been posted after Dec 15 though! https://twitter.com/...
@seyitaylor @seyitaylor on x
WHO DECIDED THAT VIEWS SHOULD BE THE LEFT-MOST ITEM ON THE TWEET? DO ANY DESIGNERS STILL WORK AT TWITTER?
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
Tweet impression count should
@saeeddicaprio @saeeddicaprio on x
who's making these twitter updates ? https://twitter.com/...
@capybaroness @capybaroness on x
this “view count” thing is the dumbest feature in twitter history. hey here's the number of people who saw your tweet and completely ignored it. does that make you feel good is that useful to you
@claytravis Clay Travis on x
So @nytimes has 54.1 million followers. Yet look at the reach/impression total of their Tweets now that @Twitter is sharing this data. Something isn't adding up. For instance this Tweet of mine will likely be viewed more than almost all of theirs today. Thoughts @elonmusk?
@kenwattana Ken Wattana on x
Instagram: turns off public like count because it was toxic Twitter: turns on Tweet view count 🙈
@drmistercody Cody Johnston on x
Thanks, looks like shit. https://twitter.com/...
@ryancarson Ryan Carson on x
I'm interested to see how this changes the dynamic on Twitter. I know it makes me think about how much engagement my tweet will get, before I post. I don't think that's a good thing for encouraging genuine interaction. https://twitter.com/...
@caseybriggs Casey Briggs on x
This will get shut down the second someone makes a bot publishing all the tweets Elon Musk sees https://twitter.com/...
@kcoleman @kcoleman on x
It's now common that @CommunityNotes have millions of views. Now multiply that by their impact—on avg ppl are: • 20-40% less likely to agree with substance of a Tweet after seeing note • 15-35% less likely to RT/Like Nontrivial # of people better informed. Go contributors 🚀 https…
@katienotopoulos @katienotopoulos on x
I'm so glad Twitter did away with the clutter of the “tweeted from iPhone” thing, which only displayed if you expanded a tweet, and added in a extra view count number that show up in the feed. Definitely a smart and useful move
@wbm312 Whitney Merrill on x
This is an easy FTC win. There's no way they updated the privacy notice (last updated June 2022) to include that other users can see which tweets you viewed. This is very bad (but I haven't confirmed it myself). https://twitter.com/...
@joshtpm Josh Marshall on x
As I was saying about desperate - “shows how much more alive Twitter is than it may seem” ... I mean, I'm literally laughing. i think twitter is as alive as it seems, given that it's not literally alive. but yeah if he create another meaningless metric ... https://twitter.com/...
@rakeshlobster Rakesh Agrawal on x
I'm sure is this is intended to pump Twitter blue. Give us money and we will improve your vanitymetrics. https://twitter.com/...
@wbm312 Whitney Merrill on x
When you no longer have a privacy team: https://twitter.com/...
@junlper @junlper on x
piss color checkmark, reversed positions for likes/retweets/quote tweets, 3 different profile picture shapes, view count under posts that is entirely useless. not to be dramatic but this is absolutely the worst twitter has ever looked
@stphnfwlr Stephen Fowler on x
Honestly, might not be a bad thing overall because a) maybe news outlets/aggregators will think twice before promoting randos/minimal-exposure accounts b) it makes people reconsider “reach” and c) might shed light on inauthentic accounts/behavior https://techcrunch.com/...
@benryanwriter Benjamin Ryan on x
Elon Musk is announcing the rollout of something Twitter already offers. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@mckelvie Jamie McKelvie on x
Why... would you care how many times a tweet has been viewed https://twitter.com/...
@breenewsome @breenewsome on x
I'm fascinated by how little they understand Twitter users https://twitter.com/...
@wagatwe @wagatwe on x
I hate this so much. this place isn't tiktok. https://twitter.com/...
@lukeisamazing @lukeisamazing on x
don't much care who the new CEO is but I'll put my support behind anyone who says they'll reverse this immediately. I feel like I'm reading European date formats when I see this shit https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life @carnage4life on x
View count is how many times your tweet was viewed not how many people viewed it. Tweet authors have had this data forever and I've always found it misleading given how many times we keep seeing the same tweet and each counts as a view. Advertisers already get this data as well h…
@atrios @atrios on x
the difference is this is now public which eventually every site realizes the numerous reasons (including advertisers!) this is a bad idea https://twitter.com/...
@twitterbusiness @twitterbusiness on x
$Cashtags, now with data 📈 👀 $SPY 👇 https://twitter.com/...
@stckfb @stckfb on x
this is funny as hell because it's just a screenshot of a graph, you cant interact with it and the information is out of date most of the time which means someone on twitter is getting paid for taking screenshots and posting them in the laziest way possible https://twitter.com/..…
@anthony Anthony DeRosa on x
Cashtag charts are not appearing for me yet. Does anyone actually see them in action? $TSLA https://twitter.com/...

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