Twitter introduced an optional new feature Wednesday that will resurface tweets you missed.
The social network is known for its real-time delivery of short messages in reverse chronological order. But the company faced an outcry over the weekend after BuzzFeed News reported it may abandon that approach for a system that would prioritize buzzy items of interest or posts that a user missed while not on Twitter. (Facebook does something similar.)
Wednesday’s announcement appeared to contradict CEO Jack Dorsey response to the weekend’s brouhaha, when he tweeted that the company “never planned to reorder timelines.”
“I *love* real-time. We love the live stream. It’s us. And we’re going to continue to refine it to make Twitter feel more, not less, live,” Dorsey tweeted then.
A Twitter spokeswoman declined to comment.
The company said Wednesday that the new, optional feature will surface “important” tweets that users are “most likely to care about,” noting these reordered postings will still be recent and in reverse chronological order.
“The rest of the Tweets will be displayed right underneath, also in reverse chronological order, as always. At any point, just pull-to-refresh to see all new Tweets at the top in the live, up-to-the-second experience you already know and love,” senior engineering manager Mike Jahr said in the post.
Dorsey tweeted the news as well: “Tweets you missed from people you follow, recapped in reverse chron! Refresh back to live. Flip it on to try it now!”
The announcement comes ahead of Twitter’s fourth-quarter financial report Wednesday. Analysts estimates on average are for profit to hold steady at 12 cents a share. The stock’s 44 percent tumble in value in the last three months suggests investors aren’t anticipating any pleasant surprises.
Shares were up 2.7 percent at $14.79 in recent trading.