In an effort to solve the problem of the Twitter timeline being-based instead of based on importance or relevance, Twitter has made a change to iOS that shows a recap of some of the most important tweets since your last visit under a “While you were away….”.
It is currently rolled out for iOS users, and it will be available for both android and on twitter.com soon.
It is unclear exactly what triggers the “While you were away”, but twitter says that users who are on twitter frequently won’t see it as often as those who will periodically login.
One of the concerns that power users had is that they would find themselves forced to view Twitter in an algorithmic view, similar to how Facebook serves posts it deems more important first and reduces organic exposure for anything promotional. Will this be a baby step for Twitter to go the same way? Because Twitter is so time based, it could really hurt power users if they decided to switch, not to mention the fact Twitter is often viewed as the first place to learn breaking news.
Twitter actually began testing this feature at the start of the year, when many users began reporting seeing it. The feedback of the time seemed positive and it would appear that they are not alienating active users with it, which was a concern.
Jennifer Slegg
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[…] “While You Were Away” feature was added to iOS last month as a way to make Twitter a bit easier for those who might not be constantly checking it throughout […]