Twitter filling my feed with stuff I didn't ask for - stuff other people follow and fav.
An experimental Twitter feature that outraged some of the platform's population upon release is now dead.
Last year, Twitter began inserting Tweets into people's timelines after those tweets were favorited -- not retweeted -- by people they follow. The experiment is no longer running, BuzzFeed News has learned.
The practice angered some Twitter users, who where upset the company had broken with its traditional model where only tweets and retweets are broadcast to followers.
Around the time it was introduced, departing Twitter CEO Dick Costolo defended the practice in a pair of tweets to frustrated users.
@YS @mjbiren ... 2nd request for more content that would otherwise come back empty. Fulfilling that request well is a worthy goal, I think
Twitter frequently experiments with the way tweets are presented. "We're constantly working to make it even easier to follow what you care about, connect with people and discover something new on Twitter," the company said in a 2013 blog post. "These tests are essential to delivering the best possible user experience."
So there is a chance favorited tweets will show up in your timeline in some form again. But for the time being, at least, the activity has stopped across the platform.
Twitter declined a request for comment.