Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Tuesday he wants to “break” the way Twitter users view their timeline in a dramatic way, again.
“There is more than one Twitter… but our product today doesn’t allow you to see that. It’s not built to do that,” Dorsey said in an interview with BuzzFeed.
Dorsey said the social media giant is looking to let users follow “topics and interests.” He didn’t specify how that would work, however, or who or what would be in charge of deciding what is posted on that feed. Dorsey mentioned that its purpose is to break the ideological echo chamber users experience on the site.
“That’s what we’re going to do, but it’s not today,” he said. “You are at the will of an account that might have multiple interests, but it’s just confirming one thing constantly or dragging you into something that might not be representative of the broader whole or your broader interest.”
Hinting at even removing Twitter’s primary function, following accounts, Dorsey added, “So we’ve only given to people very coarse-grained tools with which to manage their experience. Following accounts being the number one and we need to break that.”
As Business Insider’s Isobel Asher Hamilton wrote Wednesday, “[A]n overhaul of the timeline and follows would completely change how Twitter works.” (RELATED: House Committee Considers Subpoena For Twitter CEO For Shadow Banning Conservatives: Report)
This wouldn’t be Twitter’s first timeline update. The social media giant has introduced several new features in the past that changes the way its users see content on the platform.
Twitter changed how a timeline shows posts in 2016, effectively making the default setting no longer a linear timeline in many respects. Users frequently come across older tweets and an “in case you missed it” thread highlighting tweets and “likes” from accounts users follow.
“Tweets you are likely to care about most will show up first in your timeline. We choose them based on accounts you interact with most, Tweets you engage with, and much more,” Twitter’s “About your Twitter timeline” states. The same sort of method works for users’ notifications timeline.
The social media platform also added a “quality filter” that hides content its algorithms consider worthy of hiding. Additionally, the site has offered a “safe” search results, which sometimes results in effectively shadow banning accounts, many of whom are conservatives.
Other Twitter changes it made in March 2017 effectively gave users the ability to create their own echo chamber by muting words or accounts, The Daily Caller reported.
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