Jack Dorsey says new Twitter timeline won’t be #RIPTwitter

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey used the social media network Saturday to respond to a report that the site will roll out changes next week to user timelines by organizing tweets using an algorithm instead of the standard, chronological order.

Yet, that didn’t seem to allay users’ sense of betrayal, and, while they might be bluffing, plenty of long-time tweeters are promising to drop Twitter if the change is made.

It should be pointed out that Twitter has actually experimented with this feature already.

That test version of the timeline is essentially Twitter’s “While You Were Away” box, which algorithmically selects five to 10 tweets from a user’s timeline, but expanded to cover the entire timeline.

Defending the changes, chief executive Jack Dorsey said: “I want you all to know we’re always listening”. When you sign on to the service or open the app on your mobile phone, the tweets you see are the more recent ones posted.

Twitter maintains that the posts a user sees would be based on what they have shown a preference for in the past, for example by retweeting or favoriting certain types of posts by certain accounts.

While this does not mean that the company is not working on a new timeline, it does mean that the changes will not be as drastic as many people expected it to be.

The latest timeline change also follows Twitter’s controversial decision to change its “favorite” function from a star to a heart earlier this year.

In any case, Twitter’s GIF moves are being seen as a fresh attempt at developing another money stream in future.

The company has been under intense pressure from Wall Street to make the product changes necessary to grow its user base and become a more mainstream social media application. That is similar to the GIF experience on Facebook though it’s not known with whom Twitter has struck partnerships with for the GIFs.

Lately Twitter has come under vast thrust to improve user growth, as it strive to hit advertising returns to be level with its competitors like Facebook.

Meanwhile, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has something different to deal with, one that can be equated to an uprising of sorts. Twitter introduced Moments to highlight top stories trending on Twitter, and Dorsey has hinted at dropping Twitter’s 140-character limit for tweets.