To help you get your head around Twitter's algorithms we have explained how they work and what they do to change the time line of each Twitter user.
If you have read our blog on Facebook's algorithms you will know that they can be complex.
Historically, Twitter had a very simple approach to the way they created your "time line", it was made of of all the tweets from the users you were following in the chronological order. The changes Twitter made to their algorithms are not as drastic as Facebook's but they have added some features, to make it easier for users to catch up on what they missed, on their time line.
For those who suffer with the fear of missing out, Twitter added the "While You Were Away" feature in 2015, which shows a couple of tweets that were posted while the user was not on their Twitter account which they may not have seen otherwise.
But how does Twitter decide which tweets to show each user? Techcrunch says it's determined by "user engagement". This feature cannot be turned off and, according to Twitter Product Manager, Paul Rosania, this feature appears more for users who use Twitter less frequently.
For users who are more interested in seeing the 'best' tweets on their time line, Twitter introduced the "Show Me The Best Tweets First" feature in early 2016. This changed the content on your time line to show tweets based on their relevancy rather than in a chronological order.
The algorithm determines the tweets that it thinks the user will find most interesting by tweets they engage with, the users they interact with and, much more, according to Twitter. Unlike the "While You Were Away" feature you can disable this, find out how.
Some believe that Twitter is slowly but surely moving away from real time updates, however, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said in 2015 that they are hoping to make Twitter feel more - not less - live!
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