Twitter is actually toying with the idea of recommending users to unfollow people on its platform. The company tested a new system with a small number of users that provided users with a list of people they might want to…unfollow.
The system essentially shows you a list of people you don’t interact with regularly. This way, by unfollowing people you don’t really interact with much, Twitter hopes it will be able to provide you with a more relevant timeline. The list is supposed to “control what’s happening,” according to Twitter. “You don’t need to follow everyone to know what’s happening. Make sure you’re only following the people that make Twitter great for you,” the app says.
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“We know that people want a relevant Twitter timeline. One way to do this is by unfollowing people they don’t engage with regularly. We ran an incredibly limited test to surface accounts that people were not engaging with to check if they’d like to unfollow them,” a Twitter spokesperson told Slate. The company says it has already finished testing the new system, though it wouldn’t tell whether the test was successful.
Telling people who they should unfollow is quite a courageous step for a social network. Twitter’s been making a ton of changes to the Twitter feed in recent times, mostly focused on increasing interactions within the platform and encouraging users to connect with more users on the platform. But the latest test is the complete opposite — asking users to cut down their connections and only interact with people that really matter to them. It’s really personal.
pargon
Premium Member<blockquote><em><a href="#310935">In reply to Mark from CO:</a></em></blockquote><p>None of the "Tech Giants" lean right, or even middle. Far, far left is all that's allowed.</p>
skane2600
<p>Merely sending tweets to another twitter member isn't really "interacting". Have you ever tweeted to a famous person? It's like talking back to your TV.</p>
bharris
<p>I put this on the same level as FaceBook taking on fake news. It is more to shape what you see, and hopefully opinions, than any benefit to their users.</p>