In the(link: https://www.superdream.co.uk/secrets-of-the-social-news-feed-1-facebook/ text: first part of this series), which delved into the deep dark depth of social media algorithms, we looked at Facebook and the three main elements that make up a user’s personalised algorithm. Now it’s the turn of micro-blogging giant, (link: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-algorithm-works-facebook-twitter-instagram#sm.000067jbu6i67f1ducx2jpuhno0te text: Twitter).
Founded 10 years ago and with over 310 million active monthly users it’s safe to say the world has welcomed Twitter into their online lives with open arms, and we’ve learnt how to talk about all the exciting (and not so exciting) things happening in our lives in just 140 characters. Unlike Facebook Twitter has played it safe with regards to their algorithm and how users see content, making very little changes since their launch, however recently we have seen lots of updates and big news coming from Twitter HQ particular regarding their algorithm.
But what exactly is happening behind the scenes of our Twitter feed? This blog will look at what we already know about the site and are familiar with, the changes we have seen so far and pose the question of ‘Where is Twitter heading?’
In the beginning…
Since its launch Twitter has always prided itself on how it differentiates to main rival, Facebook. With one of the main differences for the user being the lack of an algorithm based timeline/feed, and a focus on ‘real-time’ content. All avid Twitter users will be familiar with the “Timeline” element of the site, unlike the Facebook news feed this shows users a continuous stream of tweets in chronological order. So when users log on, either on mobile or desktop, they will be able to see all of the tweets, retweets and quote tweets from all of the accounts they follow in the order which they were posted, starting with the most recent.
Although this seemed to be working well for them for a long time and many users had grown accustomed to this way of seeing content, the team at Twitter thought it was time to mix things up, and maybe take a lesson from Facebook. They didn’t like the idea of users feeling like they were missing out on some of the best tweets from their favourite people, as scrolling through hundreds of tweets from thousands of accounts you are following can become a bit tiresome. So Twitter decided to introduce a “highlights” style feature, in two different ways…
Changes so far…
Over the past 12 months Twitter has introduced two new aspects to users’ timelines all with the aim to aid their experience of the platform, and ensure they are seeing the best and most relevant content to them.
**“While you were away”**
The first of these changes was the (link: https://blog.twitter.com/2015/while-you-were-away-0 text: “While you were away”) feature added in 2015. This was Twitter’s first attempt at curing the FOMO (fear of missing out) that some of its users were feeling. It curates a number of tweets that it believes the user will be most interested in, and groups them at the top of the feed.
The engineers at Twitter don’t like to give away too many of their secrets so all we know about how these tweets are chosen is that they’re based on “user engagement”. So if you have a tendency to like and retweet a lot of tweets from one or two particular accounts, these may well appeal in your round-up.
Users are not able to turn off the “While you were away” feature, however it only appears when users haven’t logged on for a while. So if you are a Twitter addict, sneaking a peak at every opportunity you get, you may not see this feature as much. It is more focused towards those users who may only check the social network once in a while.
(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/phone_timeline_1_0.jpg alt: While you were away)
**“Show me best tweets first”**
The second, and most recent, update is the (link: https://blog.twitter.com/2016/never-miss-important-tweets-from-people-you-follow text: “Show me best tweets first”) feature introduced in February this year. Although this may sound similar to the previous feature, it does in fact differ in many ways. This feature is a bold move for the company, it is the first major step they have taken away from real-time content and towards a much more ‘Facebook like’ timeline. Similarly to ‘While you were away’ this feature gathers the most interesting tweets, based on user engagement, and puts them at the top of the timeline in chronological order. However where it differs is that it does not indicate to users that these “best tweets” have been chosen and have been given priority. It simply moves these tweets to the top of the usual continuous stream users are used to, with the rest of the tweets displayed underneath as normal. This means that the content has been altered and is no longer in real-time, but may go un-noticed by the user, much like that of a Facebook news feed, where we rarely see content in any form of chronological order.
Since its introduction the feature has been made a default aspect of every users’ timeline, however there are a number of ways to switch it off. Simply refreshing the timeline will get rid of these “best tweets” instead showing live tweets in the way users are used to. Alternatively, unlike Facebook, Twitter has allowed users to have full control over their timeline giving them the option to ‘opt-out’ and permanently turn off the feature in their settings.
(image: https://www.superdream.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/twitter-timeline-tweet-order_large.png alt: Source: The Motley Fool)
What does this mean for brands?
With the potential that Twitter may be, albeit slowly, moving towards a more algorithm based news feed it means that, again, content is key for brands. As we said in the first part of this series regarding Facebook algorithms, it is more important than ever now to make rich, engaging, entertaining content that will be of interest to your audience. This means they will be more likely to engage and interact, in turn resulting in brand content being favoured in their news feed and prioritized.
The future?
So what does the future look like for Twitter? Well as with any social network that is hard to say, with the digital world evolving so quickly each and every day it’s hard to know how they are going to keep up. But what we do know is that the network is clearly trying to evolve to keep up with competitors, by moving towards a more non-real-time way of sharing content. However when you compare the sheer amount of updates that the Facebook algorithm has gone through since its launch in 2006 to the amount that Twitter has seen in the same time period, it is clear that Twitter is keen to stick to its roots and won’t be drastically changing any time soon. But who knows, the world of social media is a fast paced one constantly surprising us, so let’s wait and see…