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The difference between Open Graph and X/Twitter Cards

A short welcome to OpenGraphDebug, why it exists, and where to start.

•Dmytro Krasun
Open GraphX (formerly Twitter)

When you share a link on social media, the preview (image, title, description) doesn’t appear by magic. It’s controlled by metadata in your page’s HTML. Two main systems handle this: Open Graph and X (formerly Twitter) Cards.

Open Graph (OG)

Open Graph is a metadata standard originally introduced by Facebook and now used widely across platforms like LinkedIn, Slack, Discord, and others.

It defines tags such as:

  • og:title
  • og:description
  • og:image
  • og:url

If you set Open Graph correctly, most platforms will generate a clean, consistent preview for your link. In practice, OG is the baseline for link previews on the web.

Twitter Cards

Twitter Cards are Twitter’s extension on top of Open Graph. They use their own tags, prefixed with twitter::

  • twitter:card
  • twitter:title
  • twitter:description
  • twitter:image

Twitter Cards allow Twitter to support specific layouts, like summary, summary with large image, or player cards. If Twitter tags are present, Twitter will prefer them over Open Graph.

  • Scope: Open Graph is cross-platform; Twitter Cards are Twitter-only.
  • Fallback behavior: Twitter uses Twitter Card tags first, then falls back to Open Graph if they’re missing.
  • Customization: Twitter Cards give finer control over how links look specifically on Twitter.

X removed the ability to preview social media cards. You can do that via X Post Composer or you can check out the best Open Graph checker tools and pick the one that fits your needs to validate your Open Graph and X/Twitter Cards.

What Should You Use?

Use both:

  • Open Graph for universal compatibility.
  • Twitter Cards to optimize how your links appear on Twitter.

If you only choose one, pick Open Graph. But if you care about how your content looks when shared (and you should), adding a few Twitter Card tags is a small effort with a real payoff.

In short: Open Graph is the foundation, but Twitter Cards allows to adjust.

Always validate your Open Graph and X/Twitter Cards

You can preview how your Open Graph and X/Twitter Cards will look on social media platforms using OpenGraphDebug.com.