Musk announces new Twitter feature

The view counter will prove “how much more alive” the platform is, its CEO claimed

Twitter will introduce a view counter showing how many times a tweet has been seen, CEO Elon Musk announced on Thursday. Musk’s rapid rollout of new policies and features has come under criticism since he purchased the platform for $44 billion in October.

The feature, which already exists for videos, will show “how much more alive Twitter is than it may seem,” Musk wrote, explaining that “over 90% of Twitter users read, but don’t tweet, reply or like, as those are public actions.”

Twitter is rolling out View Count, so you can see how many times a tweet has been seen! This is normal for video.

Shows how much more alive Twitter is than it may seem, as over 90% of Twitter users read, but don’t tweet, reply or like, as those are public actions.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 22, 2022

Shortly after purchasing Twitter, Musk said that his overhaul of the platform would involve “lots of dumb things.” So far, he has introduced, canceled, revised, and reintroduced a paid system of verification, before announcing and then canceling plans to suspend accounts for linking to competing social media sites.

A self-described “free speech absolutist,” Musk also reinstated the banned account of former US President Donald Trump, and released troves of data showing that under old management, Twitter colluded with the FBI to remove and censor information the agency wanted hidden.

Despite plunging revenues at Twitter and a turbulent news cycle surrounding his takeover, Musk claimed at the end of last month that new user signups had reached an “all-time high.” 

On Tuesday, Musk announced that he would step down as Twitter’s CEO as soon as “someone foolish enough to take the job” could be found. Two days earlier he held a poll allowing Twitter’s users to decide whether he should remain in the role or not.