Users hated the format and after a massive wave of complaints, the social media platform removed it.
Twitter launched a new tabbed timeline to iOS users only to face a huge revolt from its users, forcing it to dump the design only four days later.
The algorithmically generated feed didn’t last a week and never made it to the Android roll-out.
iOS users were quick to voice their opinion – and strong dislike – for the new tabbed timeline. They made such noise about it that by four days after it had been launched, it was removed once again.
The algorithmically generated feed provided users with two different tab options from which to choose. The first one was the “home” option and listed the top tweets. The other option was the “Latest tweets” displaying the tweets that were the most recent.
The feed layout had been in existence for some time and had been in testing for months, but it became instantly clear upon its launch to the public that this was not the experience that users wanted from their Twitter feed.
Twitter tweeted that the tabbed timeline had been removed and that they were examining other options.
“We heard you,” tweeted the company on its @TwitterSupport account on the platform. “We’ve switched the timeline back and removed the tabbed experience for now while we explore other options.”
We heard you –– some of you always want to see latest Tweets first. We’ve switched the timeline back and removed the tabbed experience for now while we explore other options. https://t.co/euVcPr9ij6
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 14, 2022
The company first began testing the tabs feature last year in October. It was available to a select number of iOS users. This was expanded to include all iOS users on March 10th. That was to be followed by a rollout to all Android and web users “soon.”
However, replies abounded on the March 10th tweet at the company, expressing disappointment and frustration from users saying that their feeds were defaulting to “home” even when “latest” was pinned as their option of preference.
After the failure of the tabbed timeline, Twitter is still moving forward with the testing of a string of other features, including everything from video reactions to downvoting. After this most recent development, it remains to be seen how many of them will outlast their first weeks of rollout following the completion of their testing stages.
