Eye On: Twitter’s Alternate Timeline

Eye OnTwitter’s Alternate Timeline02.17.16

Contents1.  Ch-ch-ch-changes in the timeline2.  But how does it work?3.  And, seriously, what does this mean for brands?

Eye On: Twitter’s Alternate Timeline, Vol 5, Issue1, February 2016 © Leo Burnett /// Arc WorldwideFor More Information, contact Daniel Craig at [email protected] or @portabledan on Twitter.

Eye On: Twitter’s Alternate Timeline

Ch-ch-ch-changes in the timeline

Twitter’s stream of consciousness timeline has been a mixed bag from the start. On one hand, tweeters tell their full stories in order, while on the other, if you aren’t logged in you might miss a great tweet.

In answer to the latter, Twitter has deployed an algorithmic timeline – think Facebook’s out-of-order News Feed – ranking tweets users are more likely to want to see. The platform lists these tweets at the top of the feed versus the newest content. The feature is now active on mobile and desktop platforms.

Jack Dorsey, CEO and Founder of Twitter, explains how the new timeline works


But how does it work?

The algorithmic timeline ranks tweets primarily according to a user’s historical engagement and popular content, displayed in reverse-chorological order. Should a user not log in very often, they will see what Twitter considers the content that would most matter to them. Users who check in fairly often may not appreciate the algorithmic display, but they may opt out or refresh the page to return to a fully chronologically sequential feed.


While You Were Away now displays tweets since the previous login algorithmically.


And, seriously, what does this mean for brands? If a brand posts an organic tweet, the likelihood of it being seen by a user not currently logged into a Twitter account is minimal, due to the nature of Twitter’s fast-moving real-time content stream. If you blink, that content is gone.

This new algorithm provides a potential for increased visibility of a brand’s tweets, hours after they have been published, especially if a user has previously interacted with your brand or a similar brand. In this way, promoted content may pay dividends down the line, as a previous engagement with a paid piece of media results in a surfacing of organic tweets.

What else? Consider that a user may not see the tweets in order anymore, so every tweet must be able to stand on its own.


Sources: https://blog.twitter.com/2016/never-miss-important-tweets-from-people-you-follow; http://www.theverge.com/2016/2/10/10955602/twitter-algorithmic-timeline-best-tweets; https://blog.twitter.com/2015/while-you-were-away-0

The new Timeline is live to users on mobile and desktop now.

Eye On: Twitter’s Alternate Timeline

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