tante

I am maybe too much of a power user but I know nobody who uses Twitter's algorithmic timeline.

The whole "Mastodon is without the evil algorithm" feels very much like a psychological overreaction that somehow merges all problems with Facebook and Instagram and TikTok into one action.

Nov 16, 2022 at 4:35pmTusky
Show threadTiiaAurora 🌚Nov 16, 2022
@tante I actually did use the algorithmic timeline to find new users. :|
Show threadAnatol StefanowitschNov 16, 2022
@tante No, many users who joined after 2015 took the algorithmic timeline to be the normal way of using Twitter, I was surprised to learn. Many did not actually know there was a chronological timeline.
Show threadtanteNov 16, 2022
@astefanowitsch that must have sucked.
Show threadAxel GutmannNov 16, 2022
@tante @astefanowitsch It did. Twitter tried multiple times to switch itself back to the "Best Tweets" without notice, so I had several mornings going from "something feels different ... that sucks ... oh, not again" while browsing the timeline.
Show threadfelix stalderNov 16, 2022
@tante I also never used the main twitter page, but always my own hand-curated lists. That was, and is, the real power of twitter. But I think that is also the reason by Twitter stayed a nice product, with not even 15% of FB users. For causual users, an simple timeline make no sense, curating lists is too much hassle, relying algo easy but unconvincing.
Show threadBarb Elliott Nov 16, 2022
@tante I too am an avid user and I used the Home feed for a while. But it got weird last year, so I switched back to Latest. I liked the Home (algo) feed to see what my Followees were liking, etc. It allowed me to see tweets I wouldn’t have normally seen.
Show threadDavid ChartierNov 16, 2022

@tante On a micro level, the vast majority of Twitter users are on the default app and website, which *heavily* enforces the algorithm feed. The number of people you or I personally know is basically a rounding error in an issue like this.

On a macro scale, I think this is part of the growing conversation and very real concern about the control algorithms and Big Tech have taken over our lives. So a lot of people see the lack of algos here as a refreshing cleansing.

Show threadMatthias KrämerNov 16, 2022
@tante Sure, it is a psychological amalgam. But the "evil" thing about the algorithm is: It prioritizes you to see things that you did not choose to prioritize - and seeing those things is not in your interest, but in the interest of the corporation.
Show threadWolfie ChristlNov 16, 2022

@tante I always did. I use most services without customization, with default settings, because I'm always researching while using. It has become more and more like hell in recent years.

However, I'd actually love to have some more feed ranking options than just chronological 😬

Show threadЮ ⁂Nov 16, 2022
@tante There is more to it than "Mastodon is without evil algo". It is the default & only option. The design prohibits algorithmic aggregation. You can not do it on Mastodon even if you wanted. Your only option would be to fork it and write a " for you" algo. This would be a derivative fedi software at that point. Twitter however has been pushed towards individualized engangement, see the onboarding alone. IMO, it is not an overreaction, it describes a dinstinct design feature.
Show threadЮ ⁂Nov 16, 2022
@tante That feature not being so much the chronological timeline itself but the decision to make it the only option available. No new info in my posts, just pointing out the distinction.
Show threadSchmutzie 🦉Nov 16, 2022
@tante I do not believe that the chronological timeline on Twitter has no algorithm, because even though that's the one I use 100% of the time, there are people that Twitter just won't show me unless I look for them individually, so I have a list for them when I realize who I'm not seeing.
Show threadRobert HeinzeNov 17, 2022
@tante Agree in principle, especially it closes off a discussion about other mechanics of Twitter. But I think the sorting algorithm still has some indirect effects on my TL, like who becomes big, what posts go viral etc