X is a social media platform by Elon Musk that is about to roll out a new feature that closely resembles one of the most popular tools offered by one of its competitors. The discovery feature that will be launched soon on the platform formerly called Twitter will be called Starterpacks and will allow users to discover accounts based on their interests.
This is being announced by Nikita Bier the head of product at X as he confirmed the tool will be released in a few weeks. It also seems that the feature is heavily influenced by the popular starter packs by Bluesky, but X is taking a different approach to it.
How X’s Starterpacks Will Work
The essence behind Starterpacks is simple: simplify the process of content creators and accounts discovery that align to what users are interested in.
The feature will be across various categories, such as News, Politics, Fashion, Technology, Business and Finance, Health and Fitness, Gaming, Stocks and Memes.
But, there is a great disparity between the strategy of X and the original implementation of Bluesky.
Although Bluesky is open to the process of building and sharing a personal starter pack with the community, X is maintaining a strong grip over the process. The X itself will do the curation on all Starterpacks on the platform.
As the explanation provided by Bier on the platform explains, X has been doing numerous research projects over the last few months to find the best content creators. The company boasts of having searched the entire world to find the best posters in all their niches and countries to come up with these lists.
This implies that the recommendations have been developed on the basis of the internal data analysis conducted at X as well as the research and not crowdsourced recommendations by ordinary users.
Why X Needs This Feature
When this is being launched, it is not by chance. X already has a For You section, which proposes tweets according to the following patterns and interests of the users.
Nonetheless, this functionality has recently come under increased criticism, as most users have been complaining that recommendations get too influenced by accounts with high follower counts and engagement rates but not by really relevant content.
The algorithm has been identified to favor popularity over quality or personal relevance, leaving users frustrated at their feeds. This may make the platform quite overwhelming and incapable of navigation for first-time users.
Starterpacks is going to address this issue by providing listings that will allow users, and especially those who are new, to navigate the platform faster. The functionality might be particularly beneficial to individuals who are confused in their feeds or cannot find content that can really appeal to their interests.
Such a step seems to be part of the more extensive plan of X to enhance user onboarding and retention. Since Musk bought the platform, the issue of user interaction and the experience of both the new and old members of the community have been the focus of concern.
Enabling users to easily access the accounts of interest at the very beginning promises to increase the number of sign-ups and retain individuals over the course of time. How a user is greeted on board can decide whether he or she becomes an active user or simply quits the platform altogether.
Will X’s Curated Content Win Over Users or Feel Like Digital Dictation?
It is still unclear whether X will be as popular among its users as the community-based model offered by Bluesky because of its internally curated approach. Others may value the fact that the platform is the best in determining quality accounts, whereas others may enjoy the grassroots and user-driven suggestions that gave the version on Bluesky such popularity.
The feature should be deployed to all X users in the next few weeks, but no specific launch date was mentioned. And when it goes live, one will be interested in how the community will take these curated lists and whether they will help the user experience as hoped.
Will people accept the recommendations that X picks with her own hand, or will they shun it as another algorithm trying to dictate what they look at? The solution may have drastic consequences for how social media sites discover content in the future.
In the meantime, X is hoping that the solution will be professionally curated starter packs that will allow the users to cut through the noise and identify the voices that are more important to them. It is still too early to tell whether this strategy will pay off but it is obvious that X is ready to borrow good ideas of competitors when he sees that they worked elsewhere.
