Facebook is successful, and Twitter is struggling. Those two facts are all the justification Twitter needs for adding more Facebook-like features with every update, it seems. The latest such update will land as soon as next week, according to a report from BuzzFeed on Friday, and will completely overhaul Twitter’s timeline by displaying tweets based on special algorithms that determine which tweets users will enjoy more, rather than displaying them chronologically. This might sound a bit familiar, and that’s because Facebook’s timeline has done almost the exact same thing for a while now, and it’s worked out splendidly for the social network.
Twitter will introduce an overhauled version of its timeline as soon as next week, according to a report Friday. The revamped timeline will show users the most popular content from those accounts they follow rather than simply displaying tweets chronologically. This new version of the Twitter timeline will display content based on an algorithm designed to determine which tweets users will most want to see, according to a report by BuzzFeed. Twitter has already been testing this feature with a sample of users, and last year, the company rolled out a similar feature that shows users popular content they may have missed while away from the social network. These two efforts appear to have proven popular. Since its birth nearly 10 years ago, Twitter has simply shown users tweets as they are posted. The pivot to an algorithmic timeline will bring content to the top in a manner similar to what users are accustomed to seeing on their Facebook News Feeds. Since the arrival of CEO Jack Dorsey, who took over the position last summer, the company has been vocal about its efforts to introduce new features and rethink the way Twitter exists now so it can attract more users. The company, for example, has discussed the possibility of lifting its trademark 140-character limit.
