Twitter recently confirmed in a tweet that the social media network is retracing its step backwards and retrieving its classic reverse chronological timeline as a viable option for all Twitterattis. Twitter Support, in a series of successive tweets, explained how it is trying to balance both the timelines, one showing the “best” and “most recent” tweets and acknowledges how the balance fails in many cases.
In the first of the series of tweets by Twitter Support, the media tries to explain how it designs the timeline by giving a link of its February 2016 announcement of its non-chronological timeline. This is the context on which the other tweets are based and Twitter promises its users more control over their own timeline.
1/ We’re working on new ways to give you more control over your timeline. But first, some context: Twitter helps you see what’s happening by showing the best Tweets for you based on your interactions.https://t.co/H5nuhQy3r2
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) September 17, 2018
This has stemmed from user frustration with this Twitter-curated timeline which are filled with ads, tweets that is popular or liked by someone you follow and many irrelevant details which is often uninteresting to the user. The company, therefore, says that it will provide an easily accessible switch to shift to a more streamlined timeline with a display of the tweets in a chronological fashion.
The social network updated its “Show the best Tweets first” stopgap solution so that when it is turned off, people will see tweets from people and accounts they follow, in reverse chronological order, with no more “In case you missed it” or recommended tweets from accounts the user does not follow but are popular in the platform.
Twitter support said in its tweet series, “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. 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.”