@cfiesler oh yeah, my understanding from talking to Twitter folks is that the behavior is clearly in favor of algorithmic. Chronological feeds are bad for new user experience and broadening the content mix.

That behavior may have anti-social outcomes in aggregate, no judgement on that issue. But people retain better on algorithmic content presentations. No debate on that IMO.

@cfiesler For me I prefer linear because I go through a lot of work on my small follow list in order to maximize the effect by basically having others curate for me.

More than 100+ follow list, you have to rely on automated curation.

@cfiesler Of course, an algorithmic feed is preferred. The vast majority of users would absolutely prefer such a thing, even if they wouldn't tell you that. That's not news. That's just people being lazy and having the attention span of insects.

The amount of people who would actually prefer a chronological feed is single digit percentages. That is not even in question.

@cfiesler @neil if you're online all the time, chronological is best.

I go to Facebook once a month, and I want the curated timeline which shows me the hatches/matches/dispatches from my friends.

@cfiesler I want both, with the default being chronological.

What I don't want is an unaccountable algorithm trying to feed me content that improves their advertising click-through and conversion rates.

It's nice to have a timeline that gives me a sense of what is happening outside of my timeline bubble. To be able to dip into content about an event and understand the context of that event.

@cfiesler We have the option, now. I'm keeping my opinion open, but whenever someone decides "let's get AI to figure it out" it's generally with a side of "but we need to have control so that we can do X", where X could be evil.

i.e., what Facebook did. Probably still does.

@cfiesler Does this person only see gems on Twitter?

What's their secret?

@cfiesler For me the choice is not between curation/recommendation and the unfiltered firehose. It’s between curation/recommendation by mass appeal and curation/recommendation by THE PEOPLE I FOLLOW.

If I have 200 interesting people highlighting the best posts they see—and they, in turn, have a robust network doing the same—that’s the ideal.

It takes time for any user to build that experience, and at first the landscape can seem arid. The challenge is to help them.

@cfiesler

I mean it

@cfiesler and lists are an option anyhow if you want a more focused feed right?

In any event, existing social media has a whole lot of meandering and aimless bored-scrolling... like, thats part and parcel to social media.

@[email protected] reverse-chron timeline people are very vocal, but I don't think they've ever been the majority, even among technical people.Most people like some curation.

I think some of the problem is that a lot of people don't like _particular_ algorithms, and some algorithms get stuck it strange or harmful loops, with no way of telling them to stop.