Twitter today announced it would be rolling out a new timeline that defaults to its algorithmic suggestions instead of the chronological feed. The platform now displays two tabs at the top of the interface for Home and Latest Tweets so users can simply swipe to see a chronological feed instead of the algorithm feed. But, the functionality has some limitations.
Twitter has a new timeline view that splits chronological and algorithmic tweets into separate tabs
The update lets users pin the latest timeline to the Home tab so they can easily view the most recent tweets from followed accounts. This means that users can simply swipe back and forth rather than tapping the sparkle icon over and over again.
While the functionality is useful, it does not allow users to make the chronological feed the default. Instead, you only have the option to set up Home as default or the two Home and Latest Tweets tabs and swipe between them.
In addition, if you force and re-open the app, the Home tab will be presented as the default option. Twitter spokesperson Shaokyi Amdo said that the Home feed will be pinned first by default “for now” and stated there is no way to pin Latest first by default. The lack of ability to pin Latest first by default makes it clear which timeline the micro-blogging giant wants people to use.
Twitter launched its algorithm-based timeline in 2016 and added the sparkle icon to the interface which lets users toggle between the two feed options later in 2018. While the sparkle icon did allow users to sort through tweets pretty quickly, the new tabs provide a faster way to avoid algorithm sorting.
The feature is rolling out first to Twitter on iOS with Android and web to follow. Twitter began testing the new layout in October of 2021.
In other news, the company in February expanded the beta of ‘Safety Mode,’ to more users across English-speaking countries. The feature is aimed at helping users limit “unwelcome interactions” on their feed by imposing an automatic seven-day block on accounts that use potentially harmful language including unwanted, spammy, or abusive replies.
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