Last week, Twitter announced that one of its most beloved features will be changed. Unlike Facebook´s complex edge rank algorithm, Twitter was always straightforward with their chronological timeline. Tweets appeared in reverse chronological order as you scroll down.
Now, Twitter is introducing a new algorithm that will determine what displays first in your timeline. Instead of the top of the timeline showing the most recently published tweets from the people you follow, it´ll show a series of tweets that Twitter thinks you should see.
But wait one moment… We all remember Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told us last week that they never planned to reorder timelines, didn´t he? Let me check again:
Twitter is live. Twitter is real-time. Twitter is about who & what you follow. And Twitter is here to stay! By becoming more Twitter-y.
— Jack (@jack) February 6, 2016
Great, so no need to worry. Well apparently you can decide now whether you will change to a new timeline in your settings page. (For now!)
One click and the result is:
Soon, Twitter will make opting in the default but you will be able to switch it off (if you know how).
The question is, if the facebookification of Twitter´s newsfeed is the right way to go? Truth be told Twitter has a problem, it´s extremely noisy. The amount of information and users on Twitter has gotten so intense that it´s hard to get anyone´s attention on Twitter. A more relevant timeline could kill the noise and lead to a better user experience.
On the other hand it’s a departure from the core idea of Twitter, so overall it complicates things. Next to it when tweets scattered all across a timeline makes it extremely hard to follow, and destroys one of the core values of Twitter.
What do you think about Twitter´s newest “feature” and their way of introducing it?
