The downward spiral of Twitter continues.
The social media website has made a number of drastic interface changes in recent months, from changing the star-shaped “favorite” button to a heart-shaped “like,” which some have said might alienate its core user base.
When Buzzfeed broke the news that Twitter was considering changing the reverse-chronological order of the timeline to an algorithm-based curation, Twitter’s power users were finally ready to declare the death of the website, and #RIPTwitter quickly became the No. 1 hashtag.
So not thrilled about this algorithm change. I want to see it all; not what an algorithm thinks I should. #RIPTwitter #Twitteraunatural
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) February 6, 2016
One of the great rewards of being an adult is deciding ON YOUR OWN who (and what) you should be interested in. #RIPTwitter
— Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) February 6, 2016
A number of users complained that the reverse-chronological timeline was the feature that made Twitter distinct from Facebook, and that the reason people used Twitter at all was that it wasn’t the same as Facebook.
if i wanted Facebook, i wouldnt be on twitter. #RIPTwitter
— ellie deleon (@ellisettte) February 6, 2016
Dear Twitter, don’t try to be like Facebook, we don’t like facebook #RIPTwitter
— ana (@dearcalumthood) February 6, 2016
Sheesh @twitter -- when #RIPTwitter is trending #1 and your stock is tanking, you should LISTEN TO YOUR POWER USERS!
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) February 6, 2016
Exactly - so ultimately they must choose, be faithful to the utility that power users love, or play for the masses https://t.co/W8bWNTxcQh
— Stephen Northfield (@snorthfield45) February 6, 2016
Twitter staff’s response to #RIPTwitter: pic.twitter.com/I8lH8UeYPl
— Nice Normie KNells (@knelligan12) February 6, 2016
Twitter’s stock has been steadily falling in the past year, and the changes in the user interface are seen as a way for the social media website to broaden its appeal to a larger general audience, which power users suspect will ultimately ruin the website for themselves.
As they say, only time will tell if that is true or not.
