In the past few months, Twitter has been no stranger to negative press and struggling stocks. However, the most recent rumor has sparked a large amount of controversy and seems as if it will be the biggest contributor in what many are calling Twitter’s looming death.

This rumored modification will alter how tweets appear in a user’s timeline. Currently, users see a reverse-chronological order of tweets that has been present since the social media’s initial launch.

Ch-ch-Changes

Gossip stirred after Buzzfeed released a report claiming that Twitter was planning on introducing an algorithmic timeline. This new change would alter Twitter’s main feature and place tweets on the timeline depending on what the algorithm believes users would want to see most. However, many worried that this new timeline would too closely resemble Facebook, which moves “Top Stories” to the top of a user’s News Feed. Based upon the enraged response, a majority of Twitter users believed this would be the final blow in Twitter’s looming death.

Looking on the Bright Side

Though most people initially resent and fear change, often it can be for the better. That is what many are saying regarding this rumored shift in Twitter’s timeline. About a year ago, Twitter unveiled a “while you were away” feature that placed popular tweets the user missed since last opening the application at the top of the timeline. Hypothetically, this algorithmic timeline would act as a more developed extension of that feature. Specifically chosen tweets would be at the top of the timeline for the user to see when they logged onto Twitter.

Dorsey Speaks Out

After the hashtag #RIPTwitter began trending, Twitter CEO Dorsey released a series of tweets in response to the uproar. The most discussed portion of his statement was when he tweeted, “We never planned to reorder timelines next week.” This sparked discussion as many commented that the insertion of “next week” made it seem as if the new timeline was still a possibility in the near future.

Could this timeline be the savior from Twitter’s looming death? Is is a real possibility in the near future? Comment your thoughts below.