The Internet Reacts With Outrage To The Sad News That Twitter Is Changing Its Timeline
So you may have heard the apocalyptic news that Twitter is changing its timeline. Instead of being chronological like it it is now it will be curated algorithmically. Which means you'll no longer be able to follow breaking news, play hashtag games, and bate celebrities who still think it's a good idea to do a Twitter Q&A.
Instead it'll be the Facebook approach, algorithms will dictate people's timelines but how that algorithm will work, much like Facebook's, will remain a mystery. Although according to Buzzfeed, "The timeline will reorder tweets based on what Twitter’s algorithm thinks people most want to see, a departure from the current feed’s reverse chronological order."
Some people are reporting that the curated timeline will be opt in, while others are just getting hysterical that Twitter is doomed and this latest change is the death knell. People took to Twitter, naturally, to bemoan Dorsey's changes under the hashtag #RIPTwitter.
Add to the misery the recent reported rumor that Twitter’s 140 character limit will be lifted as well and you are left feeling confused about what to call it if all of this happens. TwitBook? FaceTweet?
Whatever the outcome if will only serve to drive home that changes like this have very little to do with what we the people want and more to do with better ways of monetizing a platform such as this.
At the end of the day it is a business. And like all businesses, needs to turn a healthy profit to survive.
Check out some of the responses below. It's exactly these types of responses and real-time conversations, and, of course, reaction GIFs to a subject that the new timeline will effectively kill, depending on how full-on they go.
Enjoy it while you can people.
1. Twitter introduces algorithmic timeline. 2. Want *your* tweet to cut through the algorithms? Why, for this small per-tweet fee you can …
I can't even imagine trying to follow a baseball game on Twitter if it switches to non-chronological tweets. Ridiculous. #RIPTwitter
This is how close you are to killing yourself... I'll bury you next to Facebook when you do #RIPTwitter
Meanwhile since the story broke a few days ago, Jack Dorsey has responded below. Not sure this alleviates people's fears, but he responded nonetheless.
Twitter is live. Twitter is real-time. Twitter is about who & what you follow. And Twitter is here to stay! By becoming more Twitter-y.
Look at "while you were away" at the top of your TL. Tweets you missed from people you follow. Pull to refresh to go back to real-time.
I *love* real-time. We love the live stream. It's us. And we're going to continue to refine it to make Twitter feel more, not less, live!