Twitter’s Algorithm Update: How Businesses Can Stay Ahead of the Game

Twitter Released their newest Algorithm 

According to Twitter’s blog on the algorithm, Twitter users share a massive 500 million tweets per day that show up on your “for you” timeline. While the number seems high, it aligns with an average of 237.8 million Twitter users (people, organisations and other accounts). According to Twitter, users can share up to 2,400 Tweets per day. To boost user experience, Twitter introduced a filter to help circulate updates in real-time to make the experience more user-friendly and less chaotic. A prime example of this is the #trending section that splits up trending topics in different locations.

Users depend on algorithms to understand the user's preferences; where we are, our interests, the language used, the device we use, the accounts we follow and keyword research to populate your timeline with content they are likely to engage with. 

The “For You” timeline is comprised of Tweets from users you follow (in-network) and don’t (Out of network), with Twitter declaring it a “50/50” split, however, the latter includes Tweets that users you follow and users similar to you. 

Ultimately, the Twitter algorithm aims to fill your For You timeline with Tweets that it thinks will keep you on Twitter for more time daily. If you provide negative feedback on Tweets (not interested, unfollow, mute, or block), it will show you less of that type of content.

How Does Twitter Choose Tweets?

Twitter has a foundation of set core models and features that extract information from a Tweet, the user and the engagement data to try to answer important questions like “What is the probability you will interact with another user in the future” and “What are the communities on Twitter” and “what is trending” through identifying these answers enables Twitter to deliver stronger recommendations.

The recommendation cycle is made up of three main stages:

• Find the best Tweets from different recommendation sources in a process called “candidate sourcing”.
• Rank each Tweet using a Machine Learning Model 
• Apply heuristics and filters, such as filtering out Tweets from users you’ve blocked, NSFW content and Tweets you’ve already seen. 

How to Boost Engagement

By releasing their latest algorithm, Twitter gave social media marketers the opportunity to boost their Twitter engagement, revealing what boosts and stops reach.

Comments >> Retweets and Likes: A User clicking on your tweet and staying there for 2 mins is 22x more valuable than them liking it.

• If the user clicks on your profile through your Tweet and likes/replies – 24x more engaging than a like.
• If they reply to a Tweet? 54x larger reach than a like.
• If they reply to your tweet and you respond to their comment – 150x larger reach than a like.

Negative Effects:

• If they click on the “Show less often” button on your Tweet, block or mute you, -74x the effect of a like.
• If they report your tweet as offensive -738x the effect of a like. 

Twitter Blue offers a substantial increase in reach. With using Twitter Blue, you get a 4x boost in the algorithm if you are within the same network, and 2x if you aren’t. 

Don’t post links unless you’ve got a big account – Twitter considers external links as spam which limits your reach capacity. Unless you can generate a big amount of engagement on link posts, avoid them! 

Use Images & Videos – The Twitter Algorithm highlighted how useful the use of media is. Your tweet gets a 2x boost if it includes an image or a video. However, social media experts expect Twitter to revamp this to give the video a larger reach to compete with other channels. However, posting media with no texts or just links is another way to reduce your Tweet's reach. 

Following to Followers Ratio Matters – Twitter’s TweetCred PageRank algorithm reduces the page rank of users who have a low number of followers but a high number of followings. A user “unfollowing” your account will have a negative effect on your post's reach. 

Find your niche and stick with it – Twitter groups everyone in “circles” based on similar profiles. Someone interested in marketing is more likely to see a marketing-related tweet, even if they don’t follow the account. If you post outside your niche, Twitter will give you lesser reach. 

Grammar and Spelling are vital – Twitter has confirmed that they will penalise you if your tweets are difficult to understand, as a result, this means tweets in foreign languages other than English will be penalised. Twitter experts suggest writing in clear sentences in English to maximise reach. 

 Key Takeaways

As social media specialists, The Zen Agency has compiled our key takeaways for a business to be successful on Twitter. We suggest you keep your followers engaged with relatable content, as these are the audiences who will engage with your content to help increase your reach. RTs and Likes are still big determinants of how successful a Tweet is. 

With Twitter giving a clear pathway on how to maximise your reach, social media marketers should find it easier to maximise their reach. But do you think it’ll help you?

As a social media marketing agency, Zen Agency can help take your social media to the next level. Are you interested in working with us? Fill out our quick enquiry form here.