Analysis confirms links reduce engagement for news publishers on X/Twitter
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By Laura Hazard Owen April 8, 2026, 3:54 p.m. April 8, 2026, 3:54 p.m.
Pure flour-power. Hearty enough to carry you through lunch.
Summary
An analysis of thousands of tweets from 18 news publishers reveals that including links in tweets significantly reduces engagement on X/Twitter. The study shows that even major outlets like the New York Times (53M followers) get dwarfed engagement compared to smaller accounts like GlobeEyeNews (866K followers) that post link-free content. The article explores how Elon Musk's algorithm changes have de-prioritized link-containing tweets, creating a dilemma for news publishers who rely on Twitter for traffic but face algorithmic penalties for posting links.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledLinks in tweets are bad for engagement.
Engagement for tweets from @nytimes (53 million followers) is dwarfed by engagement for tweets from @GlobeEyeNews (866,000 followers).
Our new analysis of thousands of tweets from 18 publishers makes it pretty clear: Links do seem to hurt news publishers on X/Twitter.
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