While not everyone’s happy with Twitter’s algorithm, the data shows that engagement on the platform has increased as a result, which has lead to Twitter investigating more ways to utilize their machine learning tools to further boost time spent on site.
One of the ways Twitter has done this is by adding recommended tweets, by topic, into their Explore tab, which they rolled out last August.
The listing is populated based on your on-platform activity, which should, theoretically, expose you to more tweet content of relevance to you.
To further clarify and improve this option, Twitter has this week added new listings under each topic which explain why you, specifically, are seeing them.
As you can see here, under each topic, there’s now a listing which details why Twitter is showing it to you, based, at least in this example, on who you follow.
It’s a small addition, but it adds more context and transparency to the process, giving users insight into why they’re being shown what they are on the platform. Of course, how many people even use the Explore tab we don’t now, but as noted, Twitter has seen stable growth in daily active users and engagement over the last year.
They’re clearly doing something right. For all the angst caused by algorithms – on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, pretty much all social platforms – the evidence shows that they work in helping to boost usage. You might not like it, but given the data, you can expect to see more algorithm use, especially as machine learning systems and tools become more advanced.
From a marketing standpoint, the benefits of this new addition could be in audience research and understanding how you can get your tweets seen by more users. You obviously don’t have any control over who each person chooses to follow, but the listings could help you understand how to boost your exposure through the Explore tab by tweeting on specific topics, or including relevant keywords and terms in your bio and tweets to help your business show up on the relevant lists.
Of course, the popularity of each tweet is also a key factor, as Twitter’s working to highlight the best examples in each category, so it’s not necessarily easy to get listed. But the extra insight provides more data, which can help you better understand what’s being shown to users, based on various topics, and how you might also be able to reach them.