How Twitter Inc.'s (TWTR) Update Changes ‘While You Were Away’ On Your Timeline

Twitter has fundamentally changed the Twitter experience — perhaps for the better if you so choose to experience it. When Twitter users first open the app after being away for a while, they will see tweets based on popularity from those they follow instead of immediately showing what is being posted at that moment.

Wall Street seems pleased: Twitter stock (NYSE: TWTR) is up more than 4 percent to $15.07 in Wednesday morning trading after falling to record lows over the last 52 weeks, while the rest of the New York Stock Exchange was unchanged.

For now, all Twitter users must opt in to the feature by going to their settings and choosing “Show me the best tweets first,” according to a blog post announcement Wednesday morning. It will automatically turn on for all users in the coming weeks. Even with the feature on, users will be able to opt put by pulling down on the feed in the app to see all new tweets instead of the top tweets.

The update is a stark change from the traditional Twitter experience of seeing real-time, breaking news. But perhaps it’s a necessary move given that the microblog company is trading at record lows. The company reports fourth-quarter earnings after markets close Wednesday, where CEO Jack Dorsey will need to share a turnaround plan.

According to Dorsey, the change makes the Twitter experience even more “Twitter-y.” He took to Twitter Saturday to explain the feature after a BuzzFeed report leaked news of the change on Friday. His comments, made in a tweet-storm, came after #RIPTwitter started trending on the site.

The change is Twitter's latest attempt to make the service more rewarding and accessible for new users or light users. Having a personalized feed, based on popularity of tweets, is more similar to the Facebook experience. Wall Street investors often compare the business performance of the two social networks and critique’s Twitter significantly smaller user base, and its stagnating growth. Facebook touts 1.59 billion monthly active users, while Twitter last reported 320 million.

While it may cater to improving the experience for new users, Twitter seems to have written the blog post for its power users, who took to tweeting #RIPTwitter in protest against the change. “You follow hundreds of people on Twitter — maybe thousands — and when you open Twitter, it can feel like you’ve missed some of their most important tweets. Today we’re excited to share a new timeline feature that helps you catch up on the best tweets,” the blog post reads.

Even the power users cannot be on Twitter all day, Jeff Siebert, Twitter’s senior director of product, told the Guardian. “Hundreds of thousands of users say Twitter is an essential and engaging part of their daily life, but when they wake up on a Monday or come out of the gym, there’s a lot to catch up on,” Siebert said.

Wednesday’s update is an expansion of Twitter’s “while you were away” feature, which was first released in January 2015, and surfaced a selection of content that was popular in one's network. Users simply had to scroll by these selections. Those users who don’t want to use the new feature can just not opt in or can continue to use third-party apps like TweetDeck.