Whereas Facebook makes most of the decisions for you on what will show up on your Facebook News Feed, Twitter's historically taken a very different approach with what they call the "Timeline."
Your Timeline is the stream of tweets from the users you follow that shows up on your account homepage when you first log in. It used to be that your Timeline was made up of every single tweet from every user you follow, in chronological order. But the folks at Twitter found that, similarly to what was happening on Facebook, users felt like they were missing all the best tweets from the people they care about most.
"We wanted to change that feeling of missing out," said Twitter Product Manager Michelle Haq, "which is why we decided to go after that problem."
The changes they made to the algorithm aren't nearly as platform-changing as the one Facebook has made, but it is a departure from the real-time element that has defined Twitter from the beginning.
How It Works
The engineers at Twitter have attempted two different approaches for surfacing the "best" tweets first on your Timeline: the "While You Were Away" feature and the even newer "Show me the best Tweets first" feature.
The "While You Were Away" Feature
This feature was added in 2015 as a first attempt to rid users of whatever FOMO (fear of missing out) they may have been feeling from the chronological nature of the original Timeline.
Basically, it's a recap of some of the best tweets you may not have seen otherwise. How do these tweets make the cut? According to TechCrunch, it's determined by "user engagement" -- although they don't get any more specific than that.
You can't turn off the feature, but how often you see it depends on how often you use Twitter. The recaps pop up more frequently for users who check the app "only once in a while," according to Twitter Product Manager Paul Rosania in the official announcement.
"Our goal is to help you keep up -- or catch up -- with your world, no matter how much time you spend on Twitter," wrote Rosania. "With a few improvements to the home timeline,we think we can do a better job of delivering on that promise without compromising the real-time nature of Twitter."
The "Show Me the Best Tweets First" Feature
The "Show me the best Tweets first" feature, introduced in February 2016, is a little more similar to Facebook's News Feed. Why? Because it actually changes the content on your Timeline based on a tweet's relevancy, rather than listing tweets chronologically.
By default, Twitter's algorithm puts the tweets it thinks you'll find most interesting at the top of your Timeline, still recent and in reverse chronological order. These tweets are chosen based on accounts you interact with most, tweets you engage with, and much more, according to Twitter's Support page.
The rest of the tweets will be displayed right underneath, also in reverse chronological order. Unlike the "While you were away" feature, these "best tweets" won't be highlighted or indicated in any way -- so you won't be able to tell where the "best tweets" stop and the rest of the tweets begin. According to Wired, while there’s no limit to how many "best tweets" will be out of order at the top, Haq says the average is about a dozen.
There are two ways to remove these "best tweets" from the top of your Timeline. One is a quick fix: You can always refresh your Timeline to see all new tweets at the top in the totally live way you might have been used to seeing in the past.
But if you want to always see your Timeline live, then Twitter does allow you to opt of this feature if you'd like -- unlike Facebook's News Feed.
To opt out of this feature: Go to your profile settings. In the "Account" tab, scroll down to "Content" and look for "Timeline." Toggle the box next to "Show me the best Tweets first" to change the setting.
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