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Twitter Is Relaunching the Reverse-Chronological Feed (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the live-in-the-present dept.

Twitter is introducing a new toggle in the app to allow users to switch from the ranked timeline to the original, reverse-chronological feed. "The company says the move comes in recognition of the fact that Twitter is often most useful in real time, particularly during live events such as sports games or the Oscars," reports The Verge. From the report: The latest incarnation of the original Twitter feed can be accessed by tapping the cluster of small stars -- the company calls it the "sparkle" and now so shall we all, forever -- and switching to see the latest tweets. Over time, the company will learn your behavior. If you routinely switch to the latest tweets, Twitter will default you to them. This marks a change from the past, when the app would switch you back to the ranked timeline at unpredictable intervals.

15 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. Unbelievable by DFurno2003 · · Score: 1

    "The company says the move comes in recognition of the fact that Twitter is often most useful in real time"

    It's almost as if they hired somebody with a little bit of sense.

    How could it take this long to realize, and when will Facebook do the same?

  2. Fed up! by deltaromeo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >> Over time, the company will learn your behavior. If you routinely switch to the latest tweets, Twitter will default you to them.

    I'm fed up of these algorithms trying to guess what I want. Just implement a setting and I will decide!

    1. Re:Fed up! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So the only way to make this the default setting is to manually switch to it a hundred times until eventually it sticks? Fucking lol.

      Also, the goal isn't to guess what you want, it's to *change* what you want by algorithmically manipulating what you see. For example you might not respond to constant, obtrusive "VOTE FOR ___" ads, but making Pro-___ users more visible to you than Anti-___ users will alter your own views long term. Forcing a chronological feed defeats this, and so will be made more difficult and eventually eliminated once the userbase can be conditioned to accept it.

    2. Re:Fed up! by drafalski · · Score: 1

      Also, the goal isn't to guess what you want, it's to *change* what you want by algorithmically manipulating what you see.

      When they switched notifications to not just be when someone actually replied/liked one of my tweets but to include notifying me of posts I might like and missed, I stopped looking at their notifications at all.

      Maybe they will fix that next?

  3. Get rid of it by ArchieBunker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I can make a sane argument that the world is better off without Twitter.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  4. Cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Now do something about the Nazis

  5. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  6. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  7. Satan take the wheel by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Funny

    Is there any way I can set Twitter to just give me President Trump's tweets? I want to shoot that shit straight into my veins.

    I'm starting to love that crazy old fucker, and part of me will be sad when he's gone. Probably in a couple of weeks, the way he's going.

    He and I have a lot in common, you know. I am to Slashdot what Trump is to Twitter. That's how beloved I am. I'm inclined to wake up in the middle of the night and post all kinds of incoherent shit. Also, I sometimes wake up in a urine-soaked bed, except instead of high-class Russian hookers I have to figure out if it was me or my eight year-old cat.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
    1. Re: Satan take the wheel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "B-b-but Trump will be impeached this week!" says increasingly nervous and incorrect tranny for the 7th time this month.

    2. Re: Satan take the wheel by stinerman · · Score: 1

      Trump could rape a blond-haired, blue-eyed little girl on live TV while burning an American flag and he wouldn't be removed from office.

  8. Twitter is Cancer by supercell · · Score: 1

    That is all.

  9. Wildfire coverage by istartedi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The utility of chronological vs. their algorithm was very obvious when it came to wildfire coverage. In what world is a story from day 1 of an ongoing wildfire more relevant than anything from today when we're on day 4? Apparently, in the world of their algorithm.

    --
    For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    1. Re:Wildfire coverage by nashv · · Score: 1

      For all "ïntensive" purposes? Did you mean "intents and purposes" ?

      --
      Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
    2. Re:Wildfire coverage by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      I thought he meant "all intensive porpoises".

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.