Whether or not you prefer it or not, the platform previously often known as Twitter is about to take one other important step away from its earlier identification, by implementing a significant UI replace that’ll take away all response buttons from the primary view, as a substitute hiding them behind action-based cues.

Final month, X proprietor Elon Musk confirmed that his new imaginative and prescient for the app UI is coming, which can see the reply, like and re-share buttons faraway from X posts in-feed, leaving solely the entire view depend and time posted for every.

Now, X has additionally supplied a preview of how customers will interact with posts inside this new system:

As you possibly can see on this instance, shared by X engineer Christopher Stanley, with the brand new, stripped-back feed UI, customers might want to faucet and maintain on a publish to deliver up the motion buttons. You’ll then be capable to work together with the publish by way of all the standard choices.

Customers will even be capable to swipe to answer or Like a publish even sooner, which means that every one the present choices will nonetheless be accessible, even when they’re not offered proper earlier than your eyes.

Which looks like an pointless change, and a giant shift for X customers to get used to. However Musk says that it’ll make the feed “very clear”, whereas additionally guaranteeing optimum use of pixels on the X interface.

However I don’t know. At a guess, I’d assume that this can cut back total engagement within the app, as a result of customers gained’t have the choices so available, and lots of gained’t have any thought of learn how to use these new engagement course of.

Certainly, that’s precisely what occurred again in 2020, within the lead-up to the U.S. election, when Twitter determined to take away the choice to retweet posts totally for U.S. customers, as a part of a broader effort to fight the amplification of false studies. Folks might nonetheless quote tweet, however the elimination of an instantly current retweet button precipitated a 20% discount in tweet sharing total.

As a result of the button wasn’t there, so it was now not as simple to make use of. And consequently, folks simply didn’t hassle looking for an alternate answer.

I believe that this replace could have an analogous influence, at the very least within the fast time period, although X appears assured that individuals will get used to the brand new UI, and can ultimately adapt accordingly.

However once more, I don’t know.

It might, nonetheless, additionally tackle a key, lingering concern, in that the retweet possibility does make it too simple to amplify content material. That, in the long run, might find yourself being a optimistic, however it’s unlikely to assist X drive extra engagement or curiosity.

Which is what it actually wants proper now.

X has been sitting on 250 million day by day lively customers for 17 months and counting, whereas numerous studies counsel that X is step by step shedding its viewers, as Threads continues to realize. X’s person depend isn’t plummeting, however in keeping with its newest E.U. disclosure assertion, for instance, X misplaced nearly one million lively customers within the area over the previous six months.

Which, once you’re speaking about 250 million day by day actives, isn’t a giant deal, however it’s this type of sluggish leakage which might level to Threads, and different real-time social options, stunting X’s progress. And ultimately, probably, reversing it.

Add to this the truth that X’s advert income consumption is reportedly nonetheless down 50% on earlier ranges, and it’s onerous to see why these manufacturers is likely to be seeking to come again, if X isn’t rising, and isn’t seemingly providing new alternatives.

An total decline in person engagement can be one other blow, however perhaps, there’s a longer-term imaginative and prescient for the app that solely Elon can see, which can make weathering the preliminary blowback simply one other bump within the highway.

Elon’s unique projections noticed X reaching 600 million customers by 2025, on its path to changing into a billion-user app.

Perhaps that’s nonetheless potential, however it’s onerous to see as but.

However then once more, if Elon can get an extra $6 billion in funding for xAI, which is a subsidiary of X Corp, that may additionally present extra capital to maintain X going for some time but.