Well, Twitter fans. The apocalypse has come. Twitter's reordered timeline is here.
And
it's, um, not so bad, actually. In a company blog post, Twitter
engineering manager Mike Jahr said that "important" messages can now be
more or less pinned to the top of your timeline, a design that's meant
to make sure that you see the messages that matter most every time you
log in.
Plus - and this is important - the new timeline order can
be turned off. Users interested in having a few recommended messages
pulled out of their stream will be able to head into their Settings menu
and choose an option that says, Show me the best Tweets first. If you
decide it's not showing you what you want, you can turn it off.
The
new timeline is an option only in Twitter's iOS and Android apps and on
the Web, meaning clients such as TweetDeck are not affected.
(Also see: Twitter's New Timeline: Key Changes)
So
how does Twitter determine what's an important message and what isn't?
According to a company help page, Twitter chooses which messages should
be reordered by looking at elements such as the "accounts you interact
with most" and "Tweets you engage with." Messages will still be recent,
Jahr said, and other messages will still appear under the pinned tweets
in reverse chronological order.
Even if you do have the feature
turned on, reloading your stream will restore its normal
reverse-chronological order. "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," Jahr wrote.
According to Jahr's post, the
feature has already prompted people who've tested it to "Retweet and
Tweet more, creating more live commentary and conversations, which is
great for everyone."
The rollout of this feature comes as Twitter
has been feeling pressure from investors and advertisers who'd like to
see the network be friendlier to new users who may find its fast-flowing
streams overwhelming. Being able to get some grasp on what is or is not
important could help make the site more accessible.
The company
is also highlighting the new timeline's value to advertisers. In its
advertising blog, the company emphasised that brands can use the
"important message" feature to more effectively reach their account's
followers. "Today, we're launching an improved timeline to help people
see Tweets that are important to them - from their favourite athletes,
musicians, politicians, or brands," wrote product marketing manager Eric
Farkas.
The option to turn the feature on should roll out
to all users this week. Jahr's post said the company will be turning
the feature on for everyone in the "coming weeks."
And don't
worry, you will know when the new timeline is turned on for your
account. "Look out for a notification in your timeline," Jahr wrote.
© 2016 The Washington Post
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