Growth guide
On X, put your newsletter link in a reply to your post, not in the post itself. Social Media Today reports that X limits the reach of posts with an outside link, and Elon Musk advised putting the link in the reply. On LinkedIn, links are not officially restricted, but their previews were made smaller, so many writers end long posts with the link or add it in the first comment. On every platform, keep a link in your bio. Then tag your links and count which placement brings subscribers, because no platform publishes how much a link costs you.
Disclosure: I am Vicente Évora, the founder of Quibr. Since 23 October 2026 Quibr posts the call to action on X as a reply, a minute or two after the post, and counts clicks for every placement. What each platform said comes from the sources below, read on 27 October 2026.
X does, by its owner’s own account. LinkedIn says it does not, but it changed how links look. Social Media Today summed up its survey of the big platforms in one line: “there are no social platforms that are entirely open to links.”
| Platform | What has been said | Where to put the link |
|---|---|---|
| X | Limits the reach of posts with an outside link. Musk said X recommends posts by time spent, and time spent on a link is short. X tested an easier link view on iOS in October 2025 | In a reply to your post |
| No official restriction, but link previews were made smaller unless the post is promoted | At the end of a long post, in the first comment, or in your profile | |
| Threads | Adam Mosseri, who runs Threads, says reach depends on how people behave, not on limits set by the app | In the post, if it helps the reader |
| Has not said it penalises link posts. More than 95% of the posts shown in feeds carry no outside link | In the post, if it helps the reader |
In a reply. Write the post so it stands on its own, publish it without the link, then reply to it with the link and one line about why to subscribe. That was the advice of X’s owner himself.
“Just write a description in the main post and put the link in the reply.”
X has not said this is still needed. In October 2025 it tested a new way to open links on iOS, which Tomorrow’s Publisher read as a possible rethink. Nothing since says link posts are treated like other posts, so the reply is still the safer place.
Quibr does this on its own. When a post ends with your call to action, Quibr publishes the post without that paragraph, then posts it as a reply a minute or two later. It is on by default for X, and you can switch it back in Settings, Agent, “Where the link goes”.
LinkedIn has not said it limits links, but Social Media Today notes that it made link previews smaller unless a brand pays to promote the post. A smaller preview is a smaller target. Writers handle that in three ways.
Quibr keeps the link in the post on LinkedIn, for the reason above.
Neither has said it limits links. On Threads, Adam Mosseri said reach depends on how people behave, not on limits set by the app. Facebook has not said its algorithm penalises link posts, but its own figures show that more than 95% of the posts people see in their feeds carry no outside link.
In practice, a link that helps the reader belongs in the post on both. Quibr keeps it there, because the service it uses to post to Threads and Facebook cannot reply or comment.
No. Most posts should simply be good. Newsletter Operator lists the places it does put a call to action:
For the rest of the routine, read how to promote a newsletter on social media.
Count it. No platform publishes how much a link costs, and estimates from people who study the algorithms differ a lot. Your own numbers are the only ones that apply to you.
Add UTM tags for the platform and the placement, such as utm_source=x and utm_content=reply. Use a different link for the post, the reply and your bio.
A few posts tell you little. A month of posts tells you something.
If your newsletter platform records where new subscribers came from, use that. Clicks are only the first step.
If replies bring more subscribers than in-post links, keep replying. If not, put the link back.
Quibr tags every call to action link it posts with the platform and the placement, and Settings shows the clicks for each, with crawlers and link previews left out since 23 October 2026. It also makes a tagged link for each of your bios.
Yes, according to Social Media Today, which reported in November 2024 that X limits the reach of posts with an outside link. X tested a new link view on iOS in October 2025 but has not said the limit is gone.
Substack links are outside links, so they fall under the same limit. Social Media Today also reports that X has been found to throttle links to certain publications. Put the link in a reply.
LinkedIn does not officially restrict links, according to Social Media Today, but it made link previews smaller unless the post is promoted.
To keep the post itself free of an outside link and its smaller preview. LinkedIn has not said this helps, so tag the link and compare it with links in the post.
On X, yes. Quibr posts the call to action as a reply a minute or two after the post. On LinkedIn, commenting through its API is limited to approved partners, so Quibr keeps the link in the post there.
Founder of Quibr
Vicente writes Notes to 10K MRR, a weekly build-in-public newsletter on beehiiv, alongside university and a part-time job. Every edition went out on time, and the social posts that were supposed to follow it never did.
He built Quibr to write those posts for him. It started as an idea on 26 November 2024, and the first version shipped in January 2025. Quibr is built and run by one person, and Vicente answers support email himself.
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