Twitter Brings Back Chronological Timelines

Twitter will allow users to see posts in chronological order again soon, after years of pushing unpopular features ranking the “best tweets” the platform would prefer users to read and engage with.

“We’ve learned that when showing the best Tweets first, people find Twitter more relevant and useful. However, we’ve heard feedback from people who at times prefer to see the most recent Tweets,” declared Twitter in a series of posts. “Our goal with the timeline is to balance showing you the most recent Tweets with the best Tweets you’re likely to care about, but we don’t always get this balance right… So, we’re working on providing you with an easily accessible way to switch between a timeline of Tweets that are most relevant for you and a timeline of the latest Tweets. You’ll see us test this in the coming weeks.”

“Meanwhile, today we updated the ‘Show the best Tweets first’ setting. When off, you’ll only see Tweets from people you follow in reverse chronological order. Previously when turned off, you’d also see ‘In case you missed it’ and recommended Tweets from people you don’t follow,” the company continued, concluding, “Our plan is to eventually replace this setting when the easier-to-access switch described above is available. We’ll keep you updated and are listening to your feedback – let us know what you think!”

According to the Verge, Twitter has been “planning this update for some time.”

Though Twitter’s timelines were originally in chronological order with the most recent tweet first, the social network changed to a Facebook-style algorithm-powered order in 2016, despite complaints, just four days after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey promised the order wouldn’t change.

The company’s move to restore the chronological timeline through settings is a step towards the transparency many conservatives, including Brad Parscale, are calling for from Silicon Valley.