Social media platform, Twitter today announced that it would be giving more control to its 336 million users by converting their timeline into a pure reverse chronological feed. In a series of Tweets, Twitter revealed its plans of testing a new feature which will allow its users to switch between relevant and most recent tweets. To recall, back in 2016, Twitter stated that it would only show 'most important tweets' on its platform, which disappointed several users, but the company has now revealed its plans for bringing back the old chronological feed. Notably, Instagram also has the same chronological feed algorithm which displays the most important posts first, rather than the newer ones.
Twitter Testing Two New Ways to Feed Viewing
Giving its over 336 million users more control, Twitter has announced that it will completely revert their timeline into a pure reverse chronological feed. In a series of tweets on Tuesday, Twitter announced that in the coming weeks, it will start testing a "way to switch between a timeline of tweets that are most relevant for you and a timeline of the latest tweets".
"We've learned that when showing the best Tweets first, people find Twitter more relevant and useful. However, we've heard feedback from people who, at times, prefer to see the most recent tweets," said Twitter.
"Our goal with the timeline is to balance showing you the most recent tweets with the best tweets you're likely to care about, but we don't always get this balance right," it added.
How to Switch Between Relevant and Most Recent Tweet Feeds?
A user has to flip on the feature in settings from the iOS or Android Twitter app. When you open Twitter after being away for a while, the tweets you're most likely to care about will appear at the top of your timeline- still recent and in reverse chronological order. The rest of the tweets will be displayed right underneath, also in reverse chronological order, as always.
"At any point, just pull-to-refresh to see all new tweets at the top in the live, up-to-the-second experience you already know and love," said Twitter.
"We're working on making it easier for people to control their Twitter timeline, including providing an easy switch to see the most recent tweets," said Twitter Product Lead Kayvon Beykpour.
Twitter has updated the "Show the best Tweets first" setting. "When off, you'll only see tweets from people you follow in reverse chronological order. Previously when turned off, you'd also see 'In case you missed it' and recommended tweets from people you don't follow," it noted.
This is one of the best moves made by Twitter in recent times, and hopefully, Instagram also follows the same method of allowing users to switch between their feed.
