A new, enigmatic advertising format has appeared on X.com without warning. A phenomenon which did not fail to make its users react to the transparency of the platform.
Since Twitter was bought by Elon Musk, many large advertisers have wanted to terminate their contract with the platform for various reasons. In July, results were not good for X.com, as 50% of its advertising revenues went up in smoke. However, Elon Musk is not giving up and seems determined to bring advertisers back to his site. At the beginning of September, X.com had already been suspected of carrying out disguised advertising, and it seems that the trend has not calmed down since a new format of strange publications is now displayed on users’ feeds.
An ambiguous advertising format
Again, these are posts that look like normal posts and do not indicate that they are from an advertiser. Cannot interact with, like or retweet them. The worst ? It is also impossible to know who is behind these publications. Everything is done so that people think they are coming across an organic publication: fictitious avatar, and even the presence of text and photos (see capture below).
If the user is unfortunate enough to click on one of these publications, they are immediately redirected to off-topic third-party sites saturated with advertisements. Their general appearance is reminiscent of “chumboxes”, an Anglo-Saxon term to designate the modules of attractive and misleading advertising thumbnails which are located at the bottom of certain sites. These chumboxes make it appear that they are redirecting to informative articles, but they are simply there to generate clicks and views.
The desperate quest for advertising revenue
This worrying arrival of hidden announcements could not take place in France. Hidden advertising is obviously illegal and is regulated by the audiovisual communications code and the consumer code. The CSA also has the right to review this practice.
What’s happening at X.com may indicate that the company is really struggling to regain revenue from advertisers. To compensate for the massive departures of these at the time of the takeover, players in the advertising industry are now partners of X.com. This allowed the platform to sell its available spaces for ads. For the most recent partners, we can cite Google or InMobi for example.
This somewhat extreme recourse is not necessarily a symptom of X.com’s good financial health, contrary to what its CEO would have us believe. Diversifying its sources of income for a social network is important and necessary; doing it on the sly to the detriment of the user experience is a method that is clearly questionable from an ethical and strategic point of view.
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- Remuneration for accounts generating enough engagement
- “Super application” ambition
- Many features
X, formerly known as Twitter, is a social media platform that has undergone a major transformation. It is now designed to be a “super app”, offering a range of services well beyond simple messaging.
X, formerly known as Twitter, is a social media platform that has undergone a major transformation. It is now designed to be a “super app”, offering a range of services well beyond simple messaging.
Source : Mashable, X.com
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