Twitter users have been all up in digital arms ever since the news (or rather rumors) that the micro blogging social network will be replacing its reverse chronological timeline with an algorithmic one. The rumored new timeline will show you tweets out of time but supposedly more relevant to you. But before you deactivate your account before the change even rolls out, some testers have shared what it’s like to have this new timeline that Twitter seems to be testing out.
While of course this isn’t the final version, it’s still interesting to find out what the initial version seems to be like. The algorithm is apparently based on the same one that they use for the “while you were away” feature that you’re currently seeing now on your Twitter timeline. So this new timeline is like an expanded version of that and will bring you the tweets that are important for you to read or that Twitter knows you’ll want to read. But once you refresh the timeline, it will go back to your usual reverse-chronological timeline.
Some of the users that are part of the testing group said that while you will eventually get used to the new algorithmic timeline, it’s still a bad idea and “destroys one of the core values of Twitter”. It will also probably mess with the joy of reading live tweets during major events like finals of reality show competitions, sports event and award shows. Although the advantage is of course you’ll be able to catch up with tweets that are the most relevant and most interesting to you.
While Twitter has admitted they are looking into making some major changes, they haven’t confirmed what these are and when they will roll out. The other interesting thing is that this will be either an opt out or opt in thing, so no need to worry that you’ll be stuck with whatever Twitter decides to implement.
VIA: The Verge
