Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Refutes Reports of Algorithm-Based Timeline

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Saturday the social media website's stream of tweets will stay live and in real time, disputing a media report that a change was in the works.

News and entertainment site BuzzFeed reported on Friday that Twitter was going to introduce a timeline based on an algorithm rather than a real-time stream. The report upset some users, who created the hashtag RIPTwitter to debate the change.

But Dorsey took to Twitter on Saturday to dispute the report.

"Twitter is live," he tweeted. "Twitter is real-time."

BuzzFeed updated its report with Dorsey's response.

The response to the report about a new-type of Twitter timeline was overwhelmingly negative, with the hashtag #RIPTwitter suggesting many users of the micro-blogging site believe the changes would mean the death of the company.

Many users were upset that tweets from accounts with fewer followers could possibly be suppressed under the new system. Others complained that the changes would make Twitter too much like Facebook , which arranges content through the use of an algorithm.

"Dear Twitter, don't try to be like Facebook, we don't like Facebook #RIPTwitter," tweeted ana (@dearcalumthood) on Saturday.

"Clearly the motto 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' is something @twitter isn't familiar with #RIPTwitter," tweeted EldestSalvatore (@EldestDamon) on Saturday.

A spokesperson for Twitter declined to comment.

Twitter has come under increasing pressure to boost user growth, as it struggles to attain advertising revenues equaling those of its larger Facebook rival.

Last month, Twitter came under fire when it announced a new feature that would allow users to post tweets up to 10,000 characters long, up from its previous limit of 140 characters.

The San Francisco-based social media site reports quarterly earnings on Wednesday.

Written with agency inputs