--- description: A new Twitter experiment allowing users to see the favorited tweets of others has many dismayed title: Twitter is experimenting with timeline changes image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce0ac6beeea1faf8/69869fda35ba6f016ec0371a/187254789.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Tech](/tag/time-section-tech/) ## Tech Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Twitter Is Making Experimental Timeline Changes by [Melissa Hellmann](/author/melissa-hellmann/) ## Melissa Hellmann Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 18, 2014 9:10 AM CUT  Twitter announced its initial public offering and debut on the New York Stock Exchange on November 7, 2013 in London. Twitter announced its initial public offering and debut on the New York Stock Exchange on November 7, 2013 in London.Bethany Clarke—Getty Images by [Melissa Hellmann](/author/melissa-hellmann/) ## Melissa Hellmann Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 18, 2014 9:10 AM CUT Twitter appears to be [experimenting](http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/17/6028189/twitter-experiment-puts-favorited-tweets-in-your-timeline "undefined") with a change to user timelines, leaving some account holders dismayed. The change means that a user can now see tweets favorited by people they follow, the _Verge_ reports. Some users are also receiving notifications when someone they follow begins to follow a new user. Previously, a user’s timeline only showed tweets and retweets from other accounts. The change is similar to Facebook’s practice of auto-posting what friends like or have commented on, through the Open Graph app, which connects activity on apps to the Facebook news feed — although the company recently drew back its use of the app in May, _Verge_ reported. The experimental Twitter change could transform the dynamic of the timeline from a list that users cultivate to one that marks what is most trending on the microblogging platform. Other recent Twitter experiments have included [embedding](http://thenextweb.com/twitter/2014/07/31/twitter-now-automatically-embeds-linked-tweets-inside-tweets-on-its-web-version/ "undefined") tweets into tweets, which has been relatively uncontroversial, but a search on Twitter[ reveals](https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=twitter%20%22follow%22%20OR%20%22favorite%22%20timeline&src=typd "undefined") that many users do not welcome the new change. > [](https://twitter.com/BJDorr/status/501245069903822848) > [](https://twitter.com/daehnedac/status/501233556514148352) Some users have joked that they could finally use the mute feature on Twitter — which allows users to make the tweets or retweets of others invisible without blocking them — to drown out the traffic now inundating their timelines. > [](https://twitter.com/mon%5Fmothma/status/501231075491061761) \[[_The Verge_](http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/17/6028189/twitter-experiment-puts-favorited-tweets-in-your-timeline "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3134407/twitter-users-angry-favorite-social-media-tweet-microblog/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3134407/twitter-users-angry-favorite-social-media-tweet-microblog/"},"headline":"Twitter Is Making Experimental Timeline Changes","datePublished":"2014-08-18T09:10:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:02:58.792Z","description":"Basically, tweets that you favorite are no longer semi-private, but will be treated like retweets","url":"https://time.com/3134407/twitter-users-angry-favorite-social-media-tweet-microblog/","keywords":["Tech","Social Media","Technology","twitter"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce0ac6beeea1faf8/69869fda35ba6f016ec0371a/187254789.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Hellmann","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-hellmann/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltce0ac6beeea1faf8/69869fda35ba6f016ec0371a/187254789.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Social Media Site Twitter Debuts On The New York Stock Exchange","caption":"Social Media Site Twitter Debuts On The New York Stock Exchange","creditText":"Bethany Clarke—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3134407/twitter-users-angry-favorite-social-media-tweet-microblog/","name":"Twitter Is Making Experimental Timeline Changes"}}]}] ```