Twitter wants to make your feed look more like what you already have on Facebook – the most popular social networking site on the planet.
While there is no guarantee that changes will be coming in, recent tests that were met with mixed reactions indicate that we might be in for a surprise before this week comes to a closure.
According to BuzzFeed, Twitter users can expect the company to unveil a “brand new Twitter”. The reports claim that the social network will be borrowing a leaf of Facebook as far as the feed’s arrangement is concerned. An algorithm is going to come into place and reorder the way users see their tweets.
Displaying of tweets in reverse chronological order is the current way things are being done. However, the new algorithm will let users see their tweets based on what the company feels is relevant to the user. At that moment, there was no much clarity regarding whether this ability will be optional or all users will have to use it.
Over the weekend, however, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey went public and declared that the company is listening to users and that there are no any plans to reorder the timelines in the course of the week.
A change for some other time
Dorsey might have openly ruled out introducing an algorithm that will make changes to the user feeds, however, this doesn’t mean this might not happen in the future. There are chances that top names in the company are after emulating the success of Facebook where it uses an algorithm that takes care of users’ news feeds. This algorithm forces users to see what they may not have intended to see first.
In a bid to defend the algorithm, Facebook executives claim that it rips apart the “noise” that would have resulted from numerous posts coming from friends and instead serves you with what you most likely care about more.
Ever since Dorsey took over the CEO hot seat, he has been trying to make changes to the platform, something that quite a number of tech pundits seem to be in agreement with. Investors want a change in the company’s bottom line as well as users and they want it fast.
There is no doubt that the core value of the company at the moment is quite strong with its current users engaging even more on a daily basis. However, unless new abilities and features are added to the service, it will be quite challenging for Twitter to attract new users to the platform. Coming in with an algorithmic approach with respect to ordering tweets might just be one of the many changes this company needs to improve its growth.