X wants your feed to feel familiar again.
Out of seemingly nowhere, X has rolled out a ranking update that increases the visibility of posts from your “mutuals,” i.e., accounts that follow each other back.
According to X Head of Product Nikita Bier, the platform wasn’t giving enough weight to mutual relationships. “We noticed this data was missing from the algo and it made your friends appear less in your replies,” he wrote. “This resulted in the reply section feeling more like a battleground with people you don’t recognize.”
Hm, it turns out following someone usually means you actually want to see their takes. Shocking, right?
While Bier describes it as a “small tweak,” the change could have bigger implications for advertisers and the adtech community that relies on X.
Why This Matters:
First, a more relevant feed should benefit advertisers.
One of X’s biggest challenges after years of “opening things up” has been making the feed feel personal again. Many users felt it had become dominated by engagement farming, clipping accounts, AI slop, and other algo-boosted posts instead of updates from people they actually cared about or share interests with.
If X feels more relevant, that could translate into higher engagement with ads, more time spent on the platform, more returning users, and greater advertiser confidence. Ideally, all of that also leads to more ad spend.
Second, the adtech community appears to be returning to X.
For years, the platform served as the industry’s unofficial town square. Then, a number of algorithm/feed changes shifted much of that conversation shifted to LinkedIn and Reddit.
Over the past 24 hours, however, many adtech-focused X accounts have posted about returning, saying X suddenly feels useful again. If that continues, it could influence where industry conversations happen, which topics gain momentum, and even how companies develop and launch products. (Underestimate “that was big on on X, we should build something like that” at your own peril.)
Experts React:
Early reactions to X’s changes have been positive. See some examples here:
Our Take:
It’s still early, but if X can make feeds feel more relevant and higher quality without sacrificing discovery, it could have a nice impact on its advertising business.
A core question is whether these changes will stick. More specifically, will they be allowed to stick?
X owner Elon Musk has rolled back product changes before. And some of the users who benefited from the previous ranking system—including VCs, AI companies in Musk’s orbit, and other influential voices on the platform—may not welcome a change if their reach and engagement begin to flatten.
Who knows what happens next. But it’s hard to argue with the positive reaction the platform is getting right now.
