Well, Twitter‘s timeline experiment was fun while it lasted.
Wait. No, it wasn’t.
Twitter’s decision to switch from a default chronological timeline to an algorithmically-handpicked “Home” feed that shows suggested tweets was an unmitigated disaster. It was called one of Twitter’s “worst product decisions in a while,” and led to headlines like, “Twitter just made a big change to our timelines, and I hate it.” Save it for Truth Social.
As the Verge wrote:
Some users shared criticism of the change almost immediately after its March 10th announcement, as the Latest feed is preferred to the Home feed for many. The out-of-sequence Home feed can, at times, be confusing, especially for people who use Twitter for updates during a breaking news event like the war in Ukraine.
The change was so unpopular that Twitter has already abandoned the feature after less than a week. “We heard you –– some of you always want to see latest Tweets first. We’ve switched the timeline back and removed the tabbed experience for now while we explore other options,” the Twitter Supports account tweeted on Monday. Here’s an idea: explore an option that isn’t this option. I don’t know what kind of monster wants to see “top” tweets instead of the latest tweets, and frankly, I don’t want to. I’m not the only one.
Thank you.
Don’t explore “other options.” This is literally one of the best features of @Twitter.
Trying to force an algorithmic timeline on everyone was one of the things that made Facebook terrible and Instagram useless for promoting events tied to dates. https://t.co/4X7sqiYz0x
— David J. Loehr (@dloehr) March 14, 2022
DONT EXPLORE OTHER OPTIONS JUST KEEP IT LIKE THIS PLEASE https://t.co/jbbvgwiq34
— ᅟ (@emihead) March 14, 2022
How about forever? Also stop trying to make home happen. I keep my tl chronological because that’s how I want it. https://t.co/v2mB4WTnRc
— Jules ⁷ (@lilroarroar1) March 14, 2022
no other options please for the love of god https://t.co/iqThHZmDcr
— i want to bailey-ve
(@been_herde) March 14, 2022
“Some of you” meaning “every single person that uses this site that isn’t an advertiser or corporate account” https://t.co/gRCYcIyTSz
— guy who learned how to make napalm from tiktok (@InternetSlug) March 14, 2022
the thing is, people have been telling Twitter they don’t like “Home” and just want a timeline in order for years and years. And this was just a worse version of what they didn’t like.
I still get people replying to days old tweets because they don’t set twit to chronological https://t.co/MTRB0x69tm
— Chain Bear (@chainbear) March 14, 2022
we literally have to tell you this every six months, please stop trying to make Home happen https://t.co/jlZmvRFqLQ
— Rebekah Valentine (@duckvalentine) March 14, 2022
Can’t believe we had to bully Twitter to do the non-stupid thing https://t.co/380iB0MPdW
— Zito (@_Zeets) March 14, 2022
The silver lining is that it made this tweet from 2016 relevant once again.
USERS: you’re alienating the people who actually use your product
TWITTER: likes are now florps
USERS: what
TWITTER: timeline goes sideways— actioncookbook (@actioncookbook) January 5, 2016
Never a bad day for florps.
(Via the Verge)