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.



Microsoft Server Hack Has Now Hit 400 Victims, Researchers Say

A view shows the Microsoft logo on the day of the Hannover Messe, one of the world's largest industrial trade fairs with this year's partner country being Canada, as both Canada and the European Union face new US tariffs, in Hanover, Germany, March 31, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows the Microsoft logo on the day of the Hannover Messe, one of the world's largest industrial trade fairs with this year's partner country being Canada, as both Canada and the European Union face new US tariffs, in Hanover, Germany, March 31, 2025. (Reuters)
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Microsoft Server Hack Has Now Hit 400 Victims, Researchers Say

A view shows the Microsoft logo on the day of the Hannover Messe, one of the world's largest industrial trade fairs with this year's partner country being Canada, as both Canada and the European Union face new US tariffs, in Hanover, Germany, March 31, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows the Microsoft logo on the day of the Hannover Messe, one of the world's largest industrial trade fairs with this year's partner country being Canada, as both Canada and the European Union face new US tariffs, in Hanover, Germany, March 31, 2025. (Reuters)

A sweeping cyber-espionage campaign organization centered on vulnerable versions of Microsoft's server software has now claimed about 400 victims, according to researchers at Netherlands-based Eye Security.

The figure, which is derived from a count of digital artifacts discovered during scans of servers running vulnerable versions of Microsoft's SharePoint software, compares to 100 organizations cataloged over the weekend. Eye Security says the figure is likely an undercount, Reuters reported.

"There are many more, because not all attack vectors have left artifacts that we could scan for," said Vaisha Bernard, the chief hacker for Eye Security, which was among the first organizations to flag the breaches, Reuters reported.

The spy campaign kicked off after Microsoft failed to fully patch a security hole in its SharePoint server software, kicking off a scramble to fix the vulnerability when it was discovered. Microsoft and its tech rival, Google owner Alphabet, have both said Chinese hackers are among those taking advantage of the flaw. Beijing has denied the claim.

The details of most of the victim organizations have not yet been fully disclosed. Bernard declined to identify them.