Twitter has been experiencing lots of changes, the biggest being that the new Logo went from the bluebird to the black X. They are going full force on rebranding and one of the most recent changes has to do with a new ad display that would replace promoted tags. The most recent change is X tests a new ad display which would replace promoted tags.

As of recently, where you would see the promoted signifier, you now see a much smaller ad marker on the post. 

The much smaller signifier makes the advertisements on the feed look a lot more natural and much harder to realize which posts are ads or not. 

Is This Allowed?

On many social media platforms, there are lots of rules and regulations when it comes to paid advertisements by the Federal Trade Commission. One of the most common ones is transparency. Meaning it is required to make it known to users which posts are advertisements and which ones are not. This change made by X raises the question if the new size and location of the ad display follow the rules and regulations. 

Many users often are frustrated with advertisements and are much less likely to click a link if they know is a sponsored post. But with the new more hidden ad signifier on X, it comes across as looking like a post from a follower. This increases the likelihood of users clicking that link if their quick response believes it was one of their followers that shared the link. 

The question stands, will this be the new way ads are shown on the new X app? or will the FTC not allow this? Be sure to stay tuned to see all of the updates and changes X will have in the future. 

For more information on why Twitter changed the Logo to X, click the button below

sophie , 04 August 2023