Twitter plans to solve auto-refresh issue after irritated users complain

23 Sep 2021

Image: © prima91/Stock.adobe.com

After several months of rolling out updates and new features, Twitter is now planning to address a longstanding issue users have with the app.

Twitter said it plans to address the issue of tweets disappearing from view when a user’s timeline automatically refreshes.

The app’s often over-zealous auto-refresh function has caused many users to complain that their timelines updated when they were in the middle of reading a tweet.

The Twitter Support account tweeted yesterday (22 September) that the company plans to roll out updates over the next two months to solve the problem. It acknowledged users’ frustration and explained that tweets move up a user’s timeline as replies are added to ongoing conversations.

“Since some convos can evolve quickly, this made it so you didn’t see the same tweet repeated in the [timeline],” it added. “Our changes will keep your [timeline] fresh and keep tweets from disappearing mid-read.”

The app has introduced a host of new features recently, including a new look and typeface. Some users complained that the updates made it difficult for them to distinguish whether they were following another user or not.

Twitter also recently scrapped its short-lived Fleets feature, which it introduced at the end of last year as its answer to Instagram’s Stories. At the moment, it is piloting its Communities feature in a bid to help users get more involved in the conversations that matter to them.

Earlier this month, the company said it was testing a new ‘soft-block’ feature that allows users to remove followers without notifying them or blocking them.

Also this month, the app rolled out its new Super Follows feature, which targets creators who want to build a following and generate revenue through subscriptions.

Creators can set a monthly subscription price of $2.99, $4.99 or $9.99 to provide their followers with access to bonus content, including extra tweets, Q&As and other interactions with subscribers. Currently, the app is still restricting the number of creators with access to the Super Follows feature as it continues to tweak it.

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Blathnaid O’Dea is Careers reporter at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com