Twitter Nukes Tabbed Timelines Just Days After Launch After Serious User Backlash
Twitter has attempted to balance the needs of those who want to see the most popular content and those who want to view the latest content for quite some time. Unfortunately for Twitter, its latest update did not hit the mark. Twitter removed its tabbed timeline feature after receiving feedback from users.
Twitter rolled out tabbed timelines last Thursday on iOS devices with a promise that the feature would soon also be available on Android devices. The feature allowed users to “pin” the “Latest” timeline to the “Home” feed and alternate between the two tabs. The Latest timeline showed the most recent tweets in reverse chronological order, while the Home timeline showed trending tweets, tweets that it believed the user would like, or tweets from accounts the user had interacted with before.
Users were frustrated that the Home timeline was the default timeline and immediately criticized the new feature. The main gripe was that the Home timeline would frequently show tweets out of order. This can be especially confusing and aggravating if you are trying to keep up to date on news.
Twitter began testing tabbed timelines on select iOS devices this past fall. Its original hope was that it would be simpler for users to toggle between the Latest and Home timelines. Twitter overall received mixed feedback on the feature during its testing and it is a bit surprising it decided to make the tabbed timelines a more permanent feature. For now, it is clear that most Twitter users simply want to see content in reverse chronological order and will seek out popular content on their own if they so choose.
Images courtesy of Twitter
Twitter rolled out tabbed timelines last Thursday on iOS devices with a promise that the feature would soon also be available on Android devices. The feature allowed users to “pin” the “Latest” timeline to the “Home” feed and alternate between the two tabs. The Latest timeline showed the most recent tweets in reverse chronological order, while the Home timeline showed trending tweets, tweets that it believed the user would like, or tweets from accounts the user had interacted with before.
Users were frustrated that the Home timeline was the default timeline and immediately criticized the new feature. The main gripe was that the Home timeline would frequently show tweets out of order. This can be especially confusing and aggravating if you are trying to keep up to date on news.
We heard you –– some of you always want to see latest Tweets first. We've switched the timeline back and removed the tabbed experience for now while we explore other options. https://t.co/euVcPr9ij6
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 14, 2022
Twitter began testing tabbed timelines on select iOS devices this past fall. Its original hope was that it would be simpler for users to toggle between the Latest and Home timelines. Twitter overall received mixed feedback on the feature during its testing and it is a bit surprising it decided to make the tabbed timelines a more permanent feature. For now, it is clear that most Twitter users simply want to see content in reverse chronological order and will seek out popular content on their own if they so choose.
Images courtesy of Twitter
