Twitter is Letting Users Know Why They Could be Seeing Certain Tweets, Via New Tool

Published by Ushna Arif Monday, March 13, 2023

Twitter’s For You feed has lately been showing users a considerable number of tweets from accounts they don’t follow. While this has led to frustration among the users, Twitter explains that the algorithm isn’t all that random.

 

According to Twitter, all the content highlighted in the For You feed is ultimately connected to a user’s activity. Additionally, mutual follows and their activity, and related interests based on in-app actions also play a part in how the algorithm works.

 

To further give insight to users on this, Twitter is adding a tool that allows users to view why they could be seeing certain tweets. The option labelled as ‘Why you’re seeing this tweet’ would be accessible from the three dots menu on a tweet and would provide a brief overview of the reasons for the tweet showing in the feed.

 

The For You feed was originally a creation of TikTok to increase engagement with the app, which inspired other social platforms like Instagram and Facebook to develop their own versions of the functionality. The concept of a For You feed is centred around exposing users to a broad range of contents, especially trending and popular ones.

 

While the For You feed integration has proved to work successfully for platforms that are primarily focused on entertainment, we aren’t sure if it would work as well for Twitter, which is developed for sharing of news and latest updates. For instance, Twitter’s For You feed could be showing old tweets that are not as relevant, hence affecting the platform’s purpose.