{"id":485519,"date":"2023-03-28T06:56:25","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T04:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=485519"},"modified":"2023-03-28T08:16:28","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T06:16:28","slug":"big-changes-to-twitter-feed-and-polls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/internet\/485519-big-changes-to-twitter-feed-and-polls.html","title":{"rendered":"Big changes to Twitter feed and polls"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twitter Inc.\u2019s \u201cFor You\u201d feed, the default view for users of the social network, will no longer recommend content from accounts that aren\u2019t verified, owner Elon Musk tweeted on Monday.<\/p>\n

The change, effective April 15, will mean only verified accounts \u2014 those paying an $8 [R144 on the web in South Africa] monthly fee or associated with a verified organisation \u2014 are eligible to have their tweets suggested in the timeline that appears when most users open the app.<\/p>\n

Voting in Twitter polls will also require verification, Musk added.<\/p>\n

Twitter\u2019s \u201cFor You\u201d page is a non-chronological feed intended to surface more popular and engaging content, though new measures Musk is enacting are increasingly making the platform more of a two-tier system, with unpaid users left out of many formerly free features.<\/p>\n

Doing so, Musk explained, is \u201cthe only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over,\u201d though he didn\u2019t offer evidence of such groups operating on the platform.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.<\/p>\n

The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.<\/p>\n

Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk)\u00a0March 27, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Part of the sales pitch for Twitter\u2019s subscription product, Twitter Blue, explicitly states the $8 fee will help accounts \u201crocket to the top of replies, mentions and search.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest move amplifies that prioritization. The web and app versions of the social network still offer a \u201cFollowing\u201d tab, where users can see a time-ordered view mostly composed of the accounts they already follow.<\/p>\n

Starting April 1, Twitter will start removing legacy verification marks, stripping away the blue check marks from any users not paying the fee and unaffiliated with large organizations.<\/p>\n

The move may impact independent journalists and other peripheral voices most heavily, running counter to Musk\u2019s professed goal of trying to ensure free speech on Twitter.<\/p>\n

The San Francisco-based company also has a further level of differentiation with a celebrity VIP list, Platformer reported Monday.<\/p>\n

Well-known figures such as NBA star LeBron James, US President Joe Biden and Musk himself have their visibility boosted further on the platform, according to the report.<\/p>\n

This would contradict Musk\u2019s position,\u00a0articulated<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in recent days, that \u201cthere shouldn\u2019t be a different standard for celebrities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

It\u2019s more about treating everyone equally. There shouldn\u2019t be a different standard for celebrities imo.\u00a0https:\/\/t.co\/rWi99sGPdq<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk)\u00a0March 27, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Now read: Twitter will begin killing old verification badges from April<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twitter’s default feed will no longer recommend content from accounts that aren\u2019t verified, while unverified accounts will also be unable to vote in polls, owner Elon Musk tweeted on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":471399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[11373,405],"class_list":["post-485519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","tag-elon-musk","tag-twitter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485519"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":485521,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485519\/revisions\/485521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}