Introduction
X has shipped a handful of smaller features recently that don't individually make headlines but do change how content gets consumed and how ads get set up on the platform.
What about custom timelines let users build their own topic feeds?
X introduced Custom Timelines, topic-based feeds powered by Grok, currently rolling out to Premium subscribers on iOS first. Users can also now snooze specific topics they don't want to see, similar in spirit to Instagram's topic preference tools.
Custom Timelines let users build their own topic feeds
X introduced Custom Timelines, topic-based feeds powered by Grok, currently rolling out to Premium subscribers on iOS first. Users can also now snooze specific topics they don't want to see, similar in spirit to Instagram's topic preference tools.
- If a meaningful part of your audience is on Premium, your content's relevance to a specific topic may start mattering more than it did when everyone saw one shared feed
What about grok now reads long?
X added an audio option for long-form articles, letting users activate an in-stream listening button so Grok reads the content to them while they scroll elsewhere. It's a small feature, but it changes how long-form posts might get consumed, more passively, less by reading every word.
Grok now reads long-form content out loud
X added an audio option for long-form articles, letting users activate an in-stream listening button so Grok reads the content to them while they scroll elsewhere. It's a small feature, but it changes how long-form posts might get consumed, more passively, less by reading every word.
What about ad setup got easier, and captioning got broader?
X expanded several areas of its Ads Manager to make campaign setup more accessible for marketers without coding experience, and separately rolled out multi-language captioning as part of a wider feature push, alongside an updated desktop livestreaming platform for live video creators.
Ad setup got easier, and captioning got broader
X expanded several areas of its Ads Manager to make campaign setup more accessible for marketers without coding experience, and separately rolled out multi-language captioning as part of a wider feature push, alongside an updated desktop livestreaming platform for live video creators.
- If ad setup complexity has kept your team from testing X campaigns before, it's worth revisiting now that the barrier to entry on the ads side is lower
Key takeaway
None of these individually change how X performs for a brand, but together they suggest the platform is trying to lower friction on both the content and advertising sides at the same time. Worth a fresh look if you wrote X off a year or two ago based on how clunky it used to be.