Twitter plans to let users easily switch between a reverse chronological feed and an algorithmically curated feed.
Over the years Twitter has strayed further away from displaying tweets in chronological order, which the platform originally became known for.
The closest option is the “show the best tweets first” setting, which is a cross between a chronological feed and an algorithmic feed.
With this setting turned on, a chronological feed is broken up with an “in case you missed it” section, as well as recommended tweets from users a person doesn’t follow.
Soon, Twitter’s “show the best tweets first” setting will be replaced with an option that lets users switch between seeing the latest tweets and most relevant tweets.
Twitter says there is a demand for both of these settings, so it will try to offer a balance.
“We’ve learned that when showing the best Tweets first, people find Twitter more relevant and useful. However, we’ve heard feedback from people who at times prefer to see the most recent Tweets.”
Twitter says this update will be rolling out in the coming weeks.
Until Twitter eventually offers a way to switch between both types of feeds it’s making a slight alteration to the “show the best tweets first” setting.
Going forward, when this setting is turned off, Twitter will no longer display the “in case you missed it section” or display tweets from people a user doesn’t follow.
That means users will only see the latest tweets from people they do follow.
It’s worth noting that many third-party Twitter apps can display tweets in true reverse chronological order, without any unwanted tweets being inserted into the timeline.
However, Twitter recently limited the number of features that are available to third-party developers.
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