Twitter is quietly testing a new feature that could display tweets in your timeline from accounts you don’t follow.
The social platform, which is known for subtly trying out new features among a small pool users, is experimenting with its core feature: the follow system. This week, a Twitter user reported seeing tweets in his feed from an account he didn’t follow, because that account was followed by someone he did follow.
As first reported by ReadWrite, Twitter user @Aleefbaypay spotted a tweet from BuzzFeed pop up in his feed, along with a “follow” button located at the bottom of the tweet. Since it wasn’t an ad, it wasn’t listed as a “promoted” tweet, but mentioned that someone he follows also follows BuzzFeed. It’s unknown when the testing started; the company has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The concept of “suggested tweets” could be useful for those looking to find more users to follow, but it could make Twitter feeds more cluttered, too. Plus, people spend time curating their follower lists; tossing in tweets from accounts they’re not interested in sounds like a quick way to upset users.
At the same time, of course, this probably means monetary opportunities for Twitter. Perhaps these tweets could be sponsored by accounts who want to grow their user bases in the future.
The test comes just a few months after Twitter experimented with a way to cut down on noise with a “mute” button. The feature provided a way to silence accounts of users they follow — similar to Facebook’s Hide feature — without actually unfollowing them.
While Twitter routinely tests new features and design updates, only some eventually roll out to its entire user base.
Source: Mashable