Compared to Facebook’s ever-evolving algorithm-curated newfeed, Twitter’s timeline has been simple and linear: only tweets and retweets from the accounts you follow, organized in a strict reverse-chronological order. This distinction has become quite obvious in the current news cycle, with Ferguson news dominating Twitter chatter and ALS Ice Bucket Challenge taking over Facebook.
This difference is about to be erased with Twitter indicating it will add “popular or relevant content” to the constitution of timeline. This marks Twitter’s aim to gain more control on the content flow. While users may remain skeptical of such a shake-up, advertisers would no doubt welcome Twitter’s newest tweak, as it offers more freedom for branded tweets to filter through.
