Here comes the switch: Twitter ready to launch algorithmic timeline

According to a new report, Twitter may be about to flip the switch on a change that will significantly alter the way items show up in your timeline. With the change, Twitter will switch from showing tweets in reverse chronological order to algorithmically showing what it thinks users want to see at that moment. The report comes from Buzzfeed News, which says that Twitter may implement the change as soon as next week:

Say hello to a brand new Twitter. The company is planning to introduce an algorithmic timeline as soon as next week, BuzzFeed News has learned.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.

Twitter has sported the reverse chronological order since its inception, so the change, which is more akin to Facebook's way of organizing its news feed, would be a major one. Twitter has reportedly been testing the feature for quite a while in preparation for a wider launch, and it's not yet entirely clear whether the algorithmic timeline will be launched as an option, or whether users will be forced into it.

Source: Buzzfeed News

Dan Thorp-Lancaster