Twitter has recently launched a new option that will allow users to follow specific topics of their choice and have tweets related to that topic appear on their newsfeeds.
"On your Home timeline and in search results, you’ll see prompts to follow topics. Tap the Follow button in the prompt and we'll personalize your Twitter experience based on your interest in this topic. We may also match you with other topics that we think you are interested in based on your profile and activity, such as the Tweets you view or like.", said Twitter.
This feature aims to boost engagement and discovery of tweets. Moreover, it'll make it easier for users to connect with the topics they are interested in while decluttering their newsfeeds of tweets they would least engage in.
Twitter has been testing this option since August with a few users and now it has scheduled to make it available from November 13. The curated lists of topics include 300 general topics of interest however politics won't be included for a start due to the sensitivity of the topic.
The platform will be using machine learning algorithms and the help of human editors to formulate the lists and get rid of any junk tweets on the user's feed.
Twitter has experimented with similar features before including the 'moments' feature that it launched back in 2015 and improved it over the years to have happening events related to a certain topic appear on users' newsfeeds. But since the feature worked on machine learning algorithms alone, it couldn't make a big difference or boost awareness of tweets.
Since Twitter is using the help of human curators now, users can expect better results.
This feature has the potential to make the user experience better but we are yet to find out if this will fail or fly.
