Twitter Expands Recommendations Push with New Tests

The Twitter application is seen on a digital device, April 25, 2022, in San Diego. (AP)
The Twitter application is seen on a digital device, April 25, 2022, in San Diego. (AP)
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Twitter Expands Recommendations Push with New Tests

The Twitter application is seen on a digital device, April 25, 2022, in San Diego. (AP)
The Twitter application is seen on a digital device, April 25, 2022, in San Diego. (AP)

Twitter is expanding how it recommends posts from accounts that users do not follow, the social media company announced on Tuesday.

As part of the expansion, it is also building tools for users to control and provide feedback on that content.

"With millions of people signing up for Twitter every day, we want to make it easier for everyone to connect with accounts and Topics that interest them," Twitter said in a blog post.

The tests come as social media companies double down this year on what they call "unconnected content," or posts from accounts users do not follow, after short video app TikTok shot to prominence relying entirely on algorithm-driven suggestions.

Among the new designs Twitter has been testing is placement of "related tweets" below conversations on a tweet detail page, said Angela Wise, a senior director of product management responsible for "discovery" on the service.

Twitter is also experimenting with an "X" tool that users may click to remove recommended tweets they do not like from their timelines, the blog post said.

Competitor Meta Platforms is aiming to double the percentage of recommended content that fills its users' feeds on Facebook and Instagram by the end of 2023, it disclosed in July.

Twitter is making less of a wholesale shift than that, having embraced recommended tweets in its home timeline as far back as 2014, although at least some of its redesigns likewise include nods to TikTok.

In one recent experiment presenting a choice between algorithmic and chronological versions of its home timeline, it renamed the algorithmic version "For You," the same as TikTok's main page, for example.

Twitter's Wise said the company's discovery efforts were largely aimed at new users, who have yet to figure out which accounts to follow and generally send the company fewer signals about their interests than do prolific longtime tweeters.

Some users have complained about "related tweets" exposing them to irrelevant hyperpartisan content and creating confusion over which tweets were part of a conversation and which were suggested by algorithm.



EIB to Allot 70 Bln Euros for Tech Sector in 2025-2027

FILE PHOTO: The logo of the European Investment Bank is pictured in the city of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, March 25, 2017. Reuters/Eric Vidal/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the European Investment Bank is pictured in the city of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, March 25, 2017. Reuters/Eric Vidal/File Photo
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EIB to Allot 70 Bln Euros for Tech Sector in 2025-2027

FILE PHOTO: The logo of the European Investment Bank is pictured in the city of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, March 25, 2017. Reuters/Eric Vidal/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: The logo of the European Investment Bank is pictured in the city of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, March 25, 2017. Reuters/Eric Vidal/File Photo

The European Investment Bank is likely to announce on Friday plans to pump 70 billion euros into the development of European technology firms over the next three years, EU officials said.

The program, called Tech EU, is meant to help Europe compete with China and the United States in the race for innovative clean and digital technologies.

The EIB, the biggest multilateral lender in the world with a balance sheet total of 556 billion euros, expects its own 70 bln euros to mobilize a further 250 billion euros of private cash as investors crowd into projects supported by the EIB, Reuters quoted EU officials as saying.

The 70 billion is to be split into 20 billion euros for equity and quasi-equity, 40 billion euros for loans and 10 billion for guarantees in 2025-2027, the officials said.

The plan is to complement European Commission efforts to support higher risk ventures and innovative companies throughout their investment journey, from proof of concept to an initial public offering.

The EIB wants to focus on supercomputing, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, critical raw materials, green industries such as offshore wind, health, security and defense technologies, robotics and advanced materials, the officials said.