UPDATE: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sent out some tweets in response to this algorithmic timeline rumor saying that Twitter "never planned to reorder timelines next week." He went on to say that he and Twitter "love the live stream" and that they're going to continue to refine Twitter to make it feel more live.
As soon as next week, your Twitter timeline could look totally different than it does right now.
According to BuzzFeed News, Twitter is planning to launch an algorithmic timeline as soon as next week. This new algorithmic timeline would show you tweets based on what thinks the you want to see rather than in the reverse chronological order that it displays them now. The goal would be to show content that Twitter thinks is most popular or relevant at a given time.
One detail about Twitter’s algorithmic timeline that’s unclear is whether it’ll be opt-in or if it’ll automatically be turned on for everyone.
An algorithmic timeline would better surface tweets that users find interesting rather than having them read through every single tweet posted by the people that they’re following. Facebook has been using a similar feed for a while now, but because Twitter has display tweets in reverse chronological order since its launch in 2006, so an algorithmic timeline would be a huge change for the service. Such a big change is sure to upset some users, but there’s a chance that Twitter could make the algorithmic timeline opt-in, so those folks may not have to start searching for a new social network quite yet.