Another day, another Twitter test. This time Twitter has been reported to be experimenting a way to show tweets to users from accounts that they don’t follow, but that their friends follow.
Also Read: The Day Twitter Added A “Buy Now” Button
The experiment was first spotted by Twitter user @aleefbaypay who spotted a tweet from BuzzFeed on his timeline. Problem, he does not follow @BuzzFeed, but his friend does.
WTF @twitter, why am I seeing tweets from accounts that I don’t follow but are followed by someone whom I follow?
— aleefbaypay (@aleefbaypay) August 3, 2014
@EliLanger yup. The buzzfeed tweet is the one in question. pic.twitter.com/FTbHTXs2Z9
— aleefbaypay (@aleefbaypay) August 3, 2014
One can easily see how this test could be easily be an experiment on a new monetisation channel for Twitter, very similar to Facebook’s sponsored stories.
But if Twitter did implement this feature, it would probably meet the anger of users. Following an account on Twitter is a deliberate action, people decide whose tweet and retweets they want to see in their timeline. They will not easily accept seeing tweets they did not ask for, especially in a timeline which already gets easily cluttered.
Twitter tests features features like that all the time, most of them never make it to the confirmation stage. However, we can really see where Twitter is going with this.
We reached out to Twitter in the UK for more information, but no one responded.
Related Stories:
- Twitter 101: How To Generate Engagement [Infographic]
- Twitter Is Testing Ways To Comment on Retweets
- Twitter (Finally) Adds Animated GIFs
You might also like
More from Twitter
Twitter Blue Expands To 20+ European Countries
Twitter Blue is now expanding to more than 20 new countries in Europe, making the subscription service available in a …
Twitter Blue: 4,000 Characters To Do What?
Twitter introduced its longest character limit ever, but only for paying Twitter Blue subscribers.Twitter has launched a longer tweet feature, …
Twitter To Add Encryption, Voice And Video Calls To DMs
Elon Musk says the creator of Signal, Moxie Marlinspike, is interested in helping build encryption for Twitter DMs.Twitter's new owner …
Veriforever Lets You Commemorate Your Twitter Verification Forever
Veriforever is a web app that lets you create a personalized plaque to commemorate your Twitter verification. Before Elon takes …
Elon Musk To Twitter Employees: Commit to Hardcore Working Hours Or Be Fired
In an email sent to all remaining Twitter employees, Elon Musk asked everyone to commit to "hardcore working hours" or …
Elon Musk Set To Relaunch Twitter Blue On November 29
Twitter Blue, the $7.99 service that gave people access to the blue checkmark is set to relaunch at the end …
Elon Musk Is Really Buying Twitter This Time
It's the end of a wild story: Elon Musk's $44 billion Twitter deal is actually happening.On Tuesday, representatives of Elon …
Twitter Is Rolling Out Editable Tweets, For Real
This time it's for real: Twitter is rolling out editable tweets. There is a catch though: you will have to …