Twitter lets hot tweets rise to top of timelines

Twitter lets hot tweets rise to top of timelines

Twitter lets hot tweets rise to top of timelines

Twitter revamped its timeline
Wednesday, allowing the “best” tweets to
rise to the top, despite warnings of a
revolt from members loyal to the real-
time flow of the messaging platform.
The tweaked format aims to inject new
life into the struggling one-to-many
messaging service by moving away from
a pure chronological timeline to one
determined by algorithm, as used by
social network leader Facebook.
Twitter said the “Show me the best
tweets first” feature is optional and that
users can stick with tweets rushing by
like leaves on a fast-moving river, if they
prefer.
“You follow hundreds of people on
Twitter — maybe thousands — and when
you open Twitter, you may feel like
you’ve missed their most important
tweets,” senior engineering manager
Mike Jahr said in a blog post.
“Starting today, you can choose a new
timeline feature that helps you catch up
on the most important tweets from the
people you follow.”
Jahr did not detail what factors were
being used to determine which tweets
individual users might be most
interested in seeing.
The algorithm was most likely built on a
“while you were away” feature that
Twitter introduced about a year ago to
show people notable posts they missed
while not using the service.
“When you first open Twitter, the tweets
you’re most likely to care about will
appear at the top of your timeline —
they are recent, and in reverse
chronological order,” Jahr said.
“Then the rest of the tweets will be
displayed right underneath, also in
reverse chronological order, as always.”
Twitter users can refresh a page to begin
seeing live, real-time tweets as usual,
according to Jahr.
The “Show me the best tweets first”
feature is available to people accessing
Twitter using a Web browser or
applications on mobile devices powered
by Apple or Android software.
“We’ve already noticed that people who
have used this new feature tend to
retweet and tweet more, which is good
for everyone,” Jahr said.
Twitter planned to begin turning the
feature on during coming weeks, sending
people notifications to let them know
about the change.
“If you love it, great,” Jahr said. “If you
don’t, you can easily turn it off in
settings.”
The new feature is being introduced as
Twitter strives to expand its ranks of
users and ramp the amount of time
people spend at the service, as its stock
plumbs new lows and fears rise about
the future of Twitter.
But reports of the shift have already
prompted protests from some users who
say it may lead to the death of the
platform, tweeting with the hashtag
#RIPTwitter.