Twitter users decry reported plan to prioritize tweets

By Amy Tennery

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The hashtag #RIPTwitter became the top trending U.S. item on Twitter on Saturday, after a report from BuzzFeed said the company is planning to change how it displays users’ tweets.

The BuzzFeed report, which went live on Friday night and did not disclose the source of its information, said the social media platform will reorder tweets to prioritize those it believes more users will want to see. Currently, Twitter arranges tweets in chronological order.

The response to the news on Twitter was overwhelmingly negative, with the hashtag #RIPTwitter suggesting many users of the micro-blogging site believe the changes would mean the death of the company.

Many users were upset that tweets from accounts with fewer followers could possibly be suppressed under the new system. Others complained that the changes would make Twitter too much like Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), which arranges content through the use of an algorithm.

“Dear Twitter, don’t try to be like Facebook, we don’t like Facebook #RIPTwitter,” tweeted ana (@dearcalumthood) on Saturday.

“Clearly the motto 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' is something @twitter isn't familiar with #RIPTwitter,” tweeted EldestSalvatore (@EldestDamon) on Saturday.

A spokesperson for Twitter declined to comment.

Twitter has come under increasing pressure to boost user growth, as it struggles to attain advertising revenues equaling those of its larger Facebook rival.

Last month, Twitter came under fire when it announced a new feature that would allow users to post tweets up to 10,000 characters long, up from its previous limit of 140 characters.

(Reporting by Amy Tennery; Editing by Tom Brown)

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