Some Twitter users may have noticed changes to their feed in recent weeks, and they aren't alone: an error altered the company's "For You" page algorithm and has since been corrected. Despite the results of a Twitter poll showing that users would prefer the company's CEO to step down, Elon Musk is still running the platform. That means users find out about changes to their social media site in real-time on Twitter as Musk adds content to his profile. It also means that users have a reliable way to grab the CEO's attention, providing insight into possible changes to Twitter's algorithm.
Neither Twitter nor Elon Musk publicly commented on changes to the site's "For You" page until Twitter user Elijah Schaffer asked Musk about engagement concerns. "[What] happened to the engagement on this app this week," Schaffer said in a tweet. "Everyone [is] reporting massive drops all of a sudden." Surprisingly, the Twitter CEO replied that an error found in a "For You" page algorithm update unintentionally dropped engagement for tweets. Since the problem has been fixed, according to Musk, engagement should be returning to normal levels for Twitter users. Additionally, their Twitter feed might look a little different.
Musk Cites Other Issues For Engagement Drops
The "For You" tab was originally introduced for iOS users on Jan. 10 and rolled out to Android users on Jan. 19. The tab came alongside a new "Following" tab, which only shows tweets from accounts a user follows. The "For You" and "Following" tabs replaced the "Home" and "Latest" views and are pinned at the top of a user's feed.
"An update to the For You algorithm included too many tweets from people users didn’t follow," Musk replied in a tweet. "That change has been reverted." There are a few ways that tweets from people a user doesn't follow can appear on their feed and "For You" page, including likes and retweets by a user's followers. Twitter also shows users select tweets that are "Trending," fit a particular topic they follow, or are under the "You Might Like" banner.
Some users still reported lower engagement, and Musk attributed this to Twitter's recent removal of bots. "If bots are removed from the system, their likes will be removed too," Musk said in a tweet. This means that Twitter users will see fewer tweets from users they don't follow on their "For You" page. Concurrently, creators might notice they are experiencing lower engagement numbers and likes on their posts as a result of Twitter's ongoing struggle with finding and removing bots from the platform.
Source: Twitter / Elon Musk 1, 2, Twitter / Elijah Schaffer