Twitter swaps out a chronological feed for TikTok’s For You Page
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Musk ‘taking over Twitter’ meant to be a good thing? I seem to remember all sorts of talk about privacy, freedom, security, and other such pipe dreams. Alas, promises about how much Twitter was due to become seem to be indistinguishable from those 4AM rants we so often make and never follow through with. If you were looking forward to Twitter becoming a more following-centric space where you can keep up to date with the lives of people who actually matter, you’re in for a massive shock.
Twitter has decided, in the company’s infinite wisdom, to set the new For You page as the default when you open the app. Oh! You didn’t know? Twitter has a For You page now. This is essentially where all the meaningless drivel that an algorithm assumes you might interact with appears.
Related: Was Musk’s Twitter verification crusade all just marketing?
The change was first picked up on iOS where users noticed that the star icon at the top right-hand side of the interface had disappeared. No longer can you use this icon to switch between which feed is most important to you. Instead, you will now be automatically served algorithmic nonsense whenever you open the Twitter app. The newly ‘improved’ Twitter interface now features two tabs. One is labeled For You, and the other, Following.
The For You space share’s a name with TikTok’s vacuous feature, marking yet another instance where Twitter boffins have been unable to come up with an original idea. As previously stated, the For You tab is powered by an algorithm that will serve up new content every so often tailored to whatever you interact with. The idea behind this algorithmic system is to keep users entertained and, therefore, use the app for longer, sapping your energy, reducing your drive and ability to concentrate on anything that requires a little more thought, and generally taking over your life. You know, as social media is designed to do.
Related: How to disable Twitter’s new interface and get the old design back
If you’re using the Twitter app on Android or the internet, you’ll be spared the disappointing new interface for a short while longer. However, rest assured, the change will come for us all. If you prefer the reverse chronological order, it may be time to switch to a new social network, or better yet, give up social networks entirely. There’s a whole physical world beyond your smart devices that are dying to be explored.
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Uhh, this has already been possible – I am not sure how but remember my brother telling me about it. I’m not a whatsapp user so not sure of the specifics, but something about sending the image as a file and somehow bypassing the default compression settings that are applied to inbound photos.
He has also used this to share movies to whatsapp groups, and files 1Gb+.
Like I said, I never used whatsapp, but I know 100% this isn’t a “brand new feature”, my brother literally showed me him doing it, like… 5 months ago?
Martin, what happened to those: 12 Comments (https://www.ghacks.net/chatgpt-gets-schooled-by-princeton-university/#comments). Is there a specific justifiable reason why they were deleted?
Hmm, it looks like the gHacks website database is faulty, and not populating threads with their relevant cosponsoring posts.
The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk that it’s about to be deleted from my ‘daily reads’.
It’s really like “Press Release as re-written by some d*ck for clicks…poorly.” And the subjects are laughable. Can’t wait for “How to search for files on Windows”.
> The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk…
Sadly, I have to agree.
Only Martin and Ashwin are worth subscribing to.
Especially Emre Çitak and Shaun are the worst ones.
If ghacks.net intended “Clickbait”, it would mark the end of Ghacks Technology News.
Ghacks doesn’t need crappy clickbaits. Clearly separate articles from newer authors (perhaps AIs and external sales person or external advertising man) as just “Advertisements”!
We, the subscribers of Ghacks, urge Martin to make a decision.
because nevermore wants to “monetize” on every aspect of human life…
“Threads” is like the Walmart of Social Media.
How hard can it be to clone a twitter version of that as well? They’re slow.
Yes, why not mention how large the HD files can be?
Why, not mention what version of WhatsApp is needed?
These omissions make the article feel so bare. If not complete.
Sorry posted on the wrong page.
such a long article for such a simple matter. Worthless article ! waste of time
I already do this by attaching them via the ‘Document’ option.
I don’t know what’s going on here at Ghacks but it’s obvious that something is broken, comments are being mixed whatever the article, I am unable to find some of my later posts neither. :S
Quoting the article,
“As users gain popularity, the value of their tokens may increase, allowing investors to reap rewards.”
Besides, beyond the thrill and privacy risks or not, the point is to know how you gain popularity, be it on social sites as everywhere in life. Is it by being authentic, by remaining faithful to ourselves or is it to have this particular skill which is to understand what a majority likes, just like politicians, those who’d deny to the maximum extent compatible with their ideological partnership, in order to grab as many of the voters they can?
I see the very concept of this Friend.tech as unhealthy, propagating what is already an increasing flaw : the quest for fame. I won’t be the only one to count himself out, definitely.
@John G. is right : my comment was posted on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/23/what-is-friend-tech/] and it appears there but as well here at [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/08/how-to-follow-everyone-on-threads/]
This has been lasting for several days. Fix it or at least provide some explanations if you don’t mind.
> Google Chrome is following in Safari’s footsteps by introducing a new feature that allows users to move the Chrome address bar to the bottom of the screen, enhancing user accessibility and interaction.
Firefox did this long before Safari.
Basically they’ll do anything except fair royalties.