Twitter Changes: Is the End Near for Twitter?

What’s changed?
Twitter just changed the way tweets are displayed on the timeline. When users are on their home pages, instead of tweets appearing in reverse chronological order, they are now being shown based on relevance, similar to Facebook. Twitter started using an algorithm to determine which tweets are likely to be the most interesting for the specific user.

Before this change was actually implemented, users started to discover that this might occur and many people were upset. People starting expressing their concern with the hashtag #RIPTwitter.

Users were worried that the social media platform would start to become too similar to Facebook if this really happened and they weren’t happy about it. One of the main complaints is that by changing the way tweets appear, they may appear out of context. Some people tweet multiple tweets consecutively expecting that whoever is reading the content will view it in a way that makes sense. The algorithm will make it harder to understand tweets if they are intended to be read back to back.

Is it permanent?
Luckily, for people who are not open to the idea of changing the way they view their tweets, this new feature is not automatically implemented on their homepage. The option is available for those who would like to display tweets this way, it will just need to be manually turned on under account settings.

Here’s how to access the feature for those who have it:
1. Go to the Account Settings page
2. Under Timeline tap “Timeline Personalization”

3. Click on “Show me the best Tweets first”

What does this mean for marketing?
Advertisers are hopeful that the algorithm might be a good change that could eventually lead to more opportunities to target and promote content. The best content will be prioritized by the algorithm so marketers that create the best content will have the greatest chance of increasing their visibility.

Are you interested in learning more about how to best use Twitter for your brand? Contact the team at Stellar Blue to see how we can help!