What shows before “Show more” on X
The feed shows about the first 280 characters of a long post, cut on a whole word. The rest opens only for people who tap. Paste a post and see where the fold lands.
In the feed
How X counts
Every link counts as 23 characters, whatever its length. Emoji and most non-Latin scripts count as two. Line breaks count as one. The counter above uses the same rules; X's own count is the final word.
Why the first line matters more than the rest
In the feed a post is its first lines. Readers decide to tap or scroll on what they see before the fold, so the one sentence you would keep goes at the top, and the link goes last or in the first reply: a link in the body shortens the visible part by 23 characters and used to cost reach.
Accounts without Premium
Without X Premium a post cannot exceed 280 characters at all; X refuses it. With Premium the limit is 25,000 and the feed folds everything past the first 280.
Writing the post is the easy half.
Postrion X finds the posts in your niche worth replying to every morning and drafts the reply from your own experience. The preview above is the one its editor uses. 7-day free trial, no card.
See how it works