Update 12/18: Twitter has shared more details (below) about how the chronological timeline will return.
Twitter is one of the more popular social networks out there. It’s used a lot in the technology industry as companies, influencers, and users all recognize the value of the social media platform. Having an established presence on Twitter can be a competitive advantage of some companies. For users in the tech industry, Twitter and its timeline is a relatively easy way to keep track of new smartphone releases, reviews, news, developments, and more. The company also recently released a Twitter Lite app to provide a more frugal experience.
However, this doesn’t mean that Twitter is free from flaws. Originally the Twitter timeline was strictly based on time, which meant that that it showed tweets in reverse chronological order. Signed-in users could rely on the fact that they would be able to see the tweets from their followed accounts in their timeline in a chronological order.
However, this changed with the advent of the algorithm-based timeline. In 2015, Twitter began experimenting with a new timeline that showed users tweets which they were likely to be more interested in. Algorithms would be used for deciding which tweet should be shown first. Twitter termed this option as “Show me the best tweets first.” This option was made the default. It meant that tweets about which the user would likely to care about the most would still appear at the top of their timeline even if they were older than other tweets.
4/ So, we’re working on providing you with an easily accessible way to switch between a timeline of Tweets that are most relevant for you and a timeline of the latest Tweets. You’ll see us test this in the coming weeks.
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) September 17, 2018
Even after ticking off the “Show me the best tweets first” option, users reported that they were still seeing tweets in a non-chronological order in their timeline. Now, however, Twitter is finally ready to reverse course in this decision by providing users the choice to go back to a chronological timeline instead of an algorithm-driven timeline.
Twitter states that the chronological timeline feature will be visible to users in testing in the coming weeks. Users can also now switch off the “Show me the best tweets option” to get chronological tweets first, and Twitter states that this option will eventually be replaced by an “easier-to-access” switch.
Update: Toggle Incoming
According to The Verge, Twitter will finally bring back the option for users to see a chronological timeline. The app will get a new toggle at the top of the timeline for switching between “Top Tweets” and “Latest Tweets,” the latter being a chronological timeline. This feature will begin rolling out to iOS today and Android in the coming weeks.
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