‘Twitter 2.0’ sounds more like an update now instead of being a completely overhauled platform. At this point, it should really just be called ‘Musker’. All of Elon Musk’s ‘New’ proposals aren’t really new, intrinsically speaking, they’re more variations of what Twitter has already tried before, which Musk then re-pitched as ‘Upgrades’. As far as capitalist business practices go, Musk is pretty much on-point with how he’s running Twitter, but that hasn’t really worked out well for the platform, so far; just ask the former janitors. 

Re-Re

So, Musk’s latest ‘new’ addition seems to be ‘Twitter Navigation’, which will enable users to switch between recommended & followed Tweets, trends, topics, and more. Hmm, why does that sound very familiar? Well, maybe because Twitter already released this functionality last March. Here’s the original official Tweet. Four days later, Twitter removed the option. But why? 

Well, as it turns out, people hated the ‘Home’ timeline approach, which kept showing them old Tweets, including ones from people they don’t follow, and Tweets liked by their connections. As Twitter noted, the feedback was pretty clear – users don’t want alternative timelines, they want their main Feed filled with the latest Tweets. Seems that Musk and his goons haven’t stumbled upon this review yet as they continue to scroll through old Twitter docs, hence they’re rolling it out as the new ‘Twitter Navigation’.

While there’s value in making it as easy as possible to switch between the algorithm-defined feed and the timeline of Tweets from those you follow, arranged chronologically. Twitter has been peddling a wider range of content into the main Feed to expand Tweet discovery, which just ended up annoying people. Because of this, Twitter’s hoping that its newly recycled side-swipe navigation garners fewer frustrations, while simultaneously allowing it to push more Tweets on people’s Feeds.

As TikTok (again) has shown, AI-based recommendations, provided you get them right, can drive higher engagement and retention. Twitter’s algorithm is far from that, but it wants to ensure that users keep that algorithmic Feed active, as it seeks to improve its systems, hopefully maximizing engagement by bombarding people with more stuff that they like in the app. With this, you can expect Twitter to continue to open the current Feed of followed and recommended content. This new side-swipe will take you to the experience that you actually want.

The Wrap

People really don’t want this. But again, this is the ‘de way’ with the supposed next iteration of Twitter; we’re done calling it ‘Twitter 2.0’ because that’s effectively a misnomer. They’re probably new to Musk, so there’s that. Anyhow, if we were to give him credit, it would be for one thing – they’re doing things differently. Other apps have resorted to text-book copying from each other, while Twitter has essentially just copies from itself. These original projects were dropped for a reason, but perhaps Musk sees them differently and can provide the X-factor that each of these updates need to truly shine.

Sources 

https://bit.ly/3GgeTZ0