Top vs. latest tweets

I have been arguing that Twitter is less likely to influence how I see the world than Facebook because it does not use my online behavior to show what it thinks I want to see. It turns out that I am correct as long as I have set Twitter up to function in a certain way. This is the difference between having Twitter set to latest rather than top tweets. To get a less biased view, you want Twitter set to latest tweets. This setting will show you the most recent tweets from those you follow at the top of the feed. While these tweets are biased based on who you have selected to follow, other information from your online behavior does not prioritize within this content.

At the top of your timeline you should see a group of stars. If you click on these stars you will see the drop down shown in the red square above. Here you will find the option of latest or top and to see an unbiased view, you should select latest.

This article from the HootSuite blog explains the Twitter algorithm and offers more information on the signals Twitter uses when you select top.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.