The hated Facebook “Top Stories” feed is coming to Twitter
One of the best features of Twitter may be coming to an end. Recent remarks from people at Twitter point to a new filtered feed for tweets. Twitter’s CEO would not rule out such a change when asked about it earlier this year. Now recent comments from Twitter CFO Anthony Noto have made the idea seem inevitable.
As you know, the Twitter timeline is organized in reverse chronological order. The newest tweets are always at the top of your feed. This has been a core feature of the service since day one, but it sounds like a change is coming.
Noto says “[this] isn’t the most relevant experience for a user.” Important tweets can get buried at the bottom if the user doesn’t check often enough. “Putting that content in front of the person at that moment in time is a way to organize that content better.”
Curated social feeds are not a new thing. Facebook has been doing this for a while with their despised “Top Stories” feed. They’ve even made “Top Stories” the default view in their mobile apps. Just check the reviews in the Play Store to see how users feel about that (it’s not good). With this in mind we have to wonder why Twitter would adopt a similar feature. Breaking news and live tweets are a core component of what makes Twitter so great.
Twitter has already been changing the way you view your feed. Sponsored tweets, favorites, and even tweets from people you don’t follow have been creeping in. The more Twitter dilutes the feed the more they push users away. I don’t need Twitter to curate what I see in my feed. That’s my job.
How would you feel about a Facebook-style feed on Twitter? Would you stop using Twitter? Do you even use Twitter now?
[via WSJ]