A few weeks ago the Internet was in outrage mode over Twitter’s changes to how items are ranked in the timeline. Love it or hate it, the algorithmic timeline is here to stay, and even sharing #RIPTwitter tweets isn’t going to change that.
But, seriously, don’t freak out: If you’re one of those people that is upset over the fact that the new algorithmic timeline will be enabled by default, you should know that you can change it back.
The new timeline began rolling out earlier this week, and it first appeared as an option back in February, but you had to opt-in to use it. Although it’s now on by default, you can change your timeline back to how it was in the good old days, simply be heading to Settings and unchecking the “show me the best tweets first” box. Or, if you don’t want to switch it off permanently, simply refreshing the browser should make it appear chronologically.
The algorithmic timeline gives priority to tweets from accounts that you interact with on a regular basis, rather than simply ranking them by what’s most recent. This is great for those who use Twitter as a way to find interesting things, but perhaps not so much for users looking for the latest and breaking news on the social media network.
The change is an interesting decision for Twitter, and brings the social network closer in line with how Facebook does things. Instagram made a similar announcement recently, and will be following Twitter’s lead in how it ranks posts. It’s not yet known, however, if you’ll be able to opt-out from Instagram’s change.
