“Sociable” is the newest commentary on necessary social media developments and trends from industry expert Andrew Hutchinson of Social Media Today.
Amid ongoing concerns about alleged “shadowbans” and limiting certain posts and content, X has provided some new tips on how to be certain that you’re entering hashtags and “@” symbols appropriately in your posts, so as to avoid common mistakes.
Which suggests that X itself isn’t looking to limit certain posts or topics, though given the assorted algorithmic weights at play, it’s unimaginable for anyone outside of the corporate to definitively say a technique or one other.
Which is at all times going to be problematic amongst a more conspiracy-susceptible crowd.
As per X:
“Some users have reported difficulties using hashtags in posts, and unexpected behavior in replies and mentions.”
In order to avoid potential issues, X advises that users should:
- Ensure you don’t include a logo after a username (e.g. should you enter “@XSupport.123“, your message shall be sent to @XSupport , not @XSupport123)
- Don’t include any text or symbols before the @ symbol (should you enter “.@XSupport” or “?@XSupport”, it would be treated as a traditional post and can appear on the timeline of all of the poster’s followers)
- Ensure your posts should not private
- In terms of hashtags, X advises that you possibly can’t include any symbols or punctuation marks between or after the characters within the hashtag (e.g. should you type “#Awesome! Fun!”, the post shall be categorized with the hashtag “#Awesome”. The hashtag shall be cut off where you insert punctuation marks or symbols)
- Don’t include letters before the # symbol (e.g. posts with
“123#fun” or “word#fun” is not going to show up in search results for the hashtag “#fun” - Hashtags with just numbers won’t work (e.g. should you type #1 or #123 , the hashtag won’t be hyperlinked and won’t be searchable for that keyword. However, should you include letters after the numbers in your hashtag, like #123Go , it would still work as a hashtag)
These are all fairly basic reminders, with X looking to be certain that users are aware of the particular functionality of every element.
Because presumably, these are still common mistakes that trip some users up. And after they can’t see their replies in-stream, or they’re not getting through as they think they need to, some individuals are at all times going to assume that they’re being limited, after they’re really not.
X also notes that technical limits can restrict visibility:
“If you do not see your reply below a post, it could be because we have reached a technical capability limit. If a post has many replies, X won’t show all of them. However, in case your reply appears in your timeline, the post writer will most definitely have the opportunity to see your reply within the Notifications tab.”
So, principally, X is saying that there might be a variety of easy issues that impact visibility, so relatively than assuming that you just’ve been limited, and tweeting that out to everybody, perhaps check these items first.
Though, after all, X has also exacerbated this problem, by fueling past conspiracy theories in regards to the same.
For years, X owner Elon Musk claimed that Twitter was shadowbanning certain users, and restricting the reach of certain discussion points, in favor of left-leaning views.
But it wasn’t. There’s no evidence to suggest that Twitter was doing anything untoward in his respect, and while it did take motion to limit certain comments, like COVID vaccine criticisms at one stage, it did so based on advice from official sources, amidst an unprecedented global lockdown.
In retrospect, some will highlight this for instance of censorship. But within the overwhelming majority of cases, Twitter actually resisted calls for restrictions, from various governments and government agencies.
Still, the incontrovertible fact that Musk himself has promoted the spectre of censorship has now raised criticism on X itself, with its user base further strengthened of their belief that external forces are at play, and try to limit certain discussion points, a technique or one other.
Because that’s what Musk and Co. have told them is occurring, so really, X has made this a much bigger problem, leading to more finger pointing for each perceived infraction.
At the identical time, there’s also been accusations that X’s Community Notes system has been infiltrated by organized groups, who band together to delete notes that they don’t agree with ideologically.
Speculation on that front has lingered for a while, which is a good greater concern provided that Meta can also be shifting to an identical moderation model, while last week, Musk also felt compelled to provide one other explainer on how X not directly restricts the reach of link posts.
So there’s clearly a level of unease inside the X community around possible manipulation/shadowbans/restrictions.
There’s also been speculation that those that cross Elon in a technique or one other find yourself having their reach within the app, and subsequent engagement-based earnings, killed off because of this.
Though much of that seems rooted within the incontrovertible fact that they once benefited from Elon re-posting or engaging with their content, which they lose if he decides to stop doing so.
Overall, then, these issues seem less insidious than conspiracies may suggest. But should you throw fuel onto that fireside, you possibly can’t complain when you furthermore mght feel the warmth.
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