Twitter is pulling back its latest change to the home feed on iOS that showed popular tweets on top in a tabbed view, instead of the usual chronological order.
After a lot of criticism for its new Home feed layout, Twitter has decided to take a step back and implement the old chronological feed once more for iOS users. Earlier this month, Twitter introduced a new way to view the Home feed that showed tweets that users were more likely to be interested in instead of the latest tweets. The chronological layout was instead pushed to a separate tab. However, the new change to the timeline was not well-received by users.
The large-scale criticism has now forced Twitter into going back to the older layout where tweets appear chronologically and the tabbed view is now removed completely. Twitter did, however, suggest that it would be exploring other options to make the Home feed better.
Check out the new tweet announcing the return of the old timeline below.
Twitter already had a way to switch between latest and popular tweets, but it was hidden under the sparkle button on the top right. The new UI that lasted days simply brought a tabbed view to it.The short-lived new layout was introduced on March 10 and was disliked by many almost instantaneously. The lack of a chronological sequence also made the feed confusing for long-time users. This was more evident for people who were following current affairs including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, where timely latest updates were more important.
The move reportedly came after increasing regulatory pressure on tech companies to make their algorithm-based recommendation systems more transparent.
Algorithm-based timelines on other platforms
Many social media platforms, including Instagram have been exploring and switching to alternate timeline options that display content based on algorithms that decided what users would like to watch and in what order.
Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta announced during a virtual event earlier this month that the company was applying artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to power features like universal translation, AI assistants and more. Meta has already rolled out a digital assistant service for its Portal video chat service that can make recommendations and set reminders.
Meta also introduced system cards, that would layout how AI system would use information like your app history and preferences to display information in a more appealing way. Unseen posts on Instagram, for instance, go through a ranking and filtering system that decides what order they’re shown in, if they’re not removed for violations first.
Instagram too, however, has promised to reintroduce a chronological feed option that will show latest posts on top.
Source: indianexpress.com