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Twitter abandons unpopular feed change

After user outcry, the company is now making it easier to view chronological tweets.

Twitter

Twitter's algorithmically created "Home" feed won't be the default.

Photo: Joshua Hoehne/Unsplash

Chronological Twitter is here to stay. Well, it wasn't really going away, but now the algorithmically created "Home" feed won't be the first thing users see when they open the app.

Twitter keeps trying to make its algorithmic feed a thing, but the company sparked backlash from users following a March 10 design update that made it harder to access the chronological "latest" timeline. The company announced Monday that it has reversed its decision and will let users default to viewing tweets in chronological order.

"We heard you — some of you always want to see latest Tweets first," Twitter Support tweeted on Monday. "We've switched the timeline back and removed the tabbed experience for now while we explore other options."

The design change allowed users to swipe between the "Home" feed, which is made up of tweets suggested by Twitter's algorithm, and the "Latest" feed. The new design still gave users a choice between the two views, but upon opening the app, Twitter would automatically show the algorithmically created feed first, with no option to make the chronological view the default. Users could choose to pin the "Home" feed, but didn't have the ability to pin "Latest" instead. Twitter began testing the feature in October, and released it first on iOS with plans to release it on Android and the web later on.

Needless to say, the move was an unpopular one. The original announcement sparked more than 3,000 replies. One user responded that the update was "very annoying if you don’t use Home timeline ever." Another replied, "Allow us to pin latest tweets like before. Please. I beg of you. This ruins twitter for everyone who uses it regularly."

To several users, Twitter responded: "We’ll share your feedback with the team." Sounds like the team got the memo that users don't really want its algorithm.

Nat Rubio-Licht

Nat Rubio-Licht is a Los Angeles-based news writer at Protocol. They graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in newspaper and online journalism in May 2020. Prior to joining the team, they worked at the Los Angeles Business Journal as a technology and aerospace reporter.

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