X (Twitter) Articles: who can publish them and how to write one

Who can publish an X Article in 2026

Articles are open to Premium and Premium+ subscribers, to the Plus, Premium, Super and Ultra plans of The X Subscription, and to businesses and organizations. X’s help pages do not list Basic.

X launched Articles on March 8, 2024, first for Premium+ and verified organizations. In January 2026, X’s head of product Nikita Bier announced they were opening to all Premium subscribers. The help center now lists every eligible plan, including the newer The X Subscription tiers.

The Premium help page says publishing Articles is a feature limited to Premium subscribers. In practice: Basic gets you long posts but not Articles, and a free account gets neither.

Article or long post: which one

A long post stays a post (up to 25,000 characters, plain text with bold and italics). An Article is its own page with a title, a cover and headings. One is read in the timeline, the other gets opened.

A simple test: if your text needs headings for people to find their way, it’s an Article. If it reads straight through like a letter, a long post is enough, and it stays in the timeline where eyes already are. The character counter tells you quickly which side of the line your draft falls on.

What the Articles editor gives you

X’s help center lists headings and subheadings, bold, italics, strikethrough, indentation, numbered and bulleted lists, plus images, video, GIFs, posts and links.

The Article format X published for developers in June 2026 also accepts block quotes and dividers. The consumer help page doesn’t mention them, so use them if the editor offers them, but don’t build your layout around them.

• Headings: one every 200 to 400 words, written as a promise (“Why your opening line loses people”) rather than a label (“Hooks”).
• Lists: for steps or criteria, not to chop up reasoning that reads better as sentences.
• Embedded posts: proof in context, such as the post that started a debate or an official announcement.
• Images: a screenshot that shows what the text describes, always with alt text.

Title and cover: what the timeline shows

In the timeline, your Article is reduced to its title and cover image. Those two decide the click, not your first paragraph.

X doesn’t publish an official cover size on the pages we could read. Third-party guides disagree: some measured a very wide banner of roughly 5:1 (1920 × 368 pixels), others suggest 5:2 or 16:9. Go wide, keep the important part in the center, and check the crop in the preview before you publish.

• A title that says what the reader will be able to do by the end, with a real number or a specific result when you have one.
• A cover that reads at thumbnail size: a simple diagram or three words, not a generic stock photo.
• No promise the Article doesn’t keep. A disappointed reader won’t come back, and “Not interested” is one of the costliest signals in ranking (see how the algorithm works).

A structure that holds to the end

A good Article answers one precise question in the order the reader asks it: the problem, the method, a concrete example, the mistakes to avoid, what to do tomorrow.

1. Opening: two or three sentences that name the problem and what the reader walks away with. Skip the history of the topic.
2. Core: the method in steps, each under its own heading, with the reason behind each step.
3. Example: a real case you went through, with your actual numbers if you have them. That’s what separates your piece from a summary anyone could write.
4. Pitfalls: what usually goes wrong and how to spot it early.
5. Next step: one concrete action, and maybe a link to something else you wrote.

Write section by section instead of in one go: each heading becomes a small draft you can reread on its own. Then cut whatever doesn’t serve the original question. A 1,200-word Article read to the end beats a 4,000-word one abandoned on the second screen.

Getting your Article read

Publishing isn’t the finish line. Readers come through the post that carries the Article and the posts you write around it.

• The announcement post: one sentence that makes people want more, pulled from the strongest idea in the piece, not “New article is live”.
• The following days: two or three short posts, each taking one point from the Article from a different angle. Each stands on its own; the Article link comes in a reply or at the end.
• Replies: stay around for the first hour to answer questions, they keep the conversation going (replying to mentions).
• Timing: publish when your audience is there, which you measure on your own posts (best time to post).

Since April 2026, X says links were never deboosted and now get the same shot as everything else. So put the Article link right in the post if that’s clearer for the reader.

No Premium: your fallbacks

Without a plan that unlocks Articles, the same content can go out as a long post (with Basic) or as a thread of 280-character posts (without a subscription).

A thread is not an Article chopped at random: every post should carry a complete idea. You’ll find ready-made structures in the post templates, and where Articles fit in the bigger picture in the personal branding on X guide.