Twitter Algorithm Changes: What You Need to Know

The social media landscape has been in a state of flux when it comes to businesses trying to master it. What works well yesterday may not necessarily work well today, and it will certainly be different in the future. We all share a common goal, though: engagement. That is, writing great content so that our fans can respond and react to it, as well as using that content to attract new faces to our pages.
Unfortunately, one big change that Twitter is getting ready to make could decrease your organic engagement significantly: they want to implement an algorithm driven news feed that will change the way content is displayed. Since the beginning of Twitter, their method of showing tweets has followed a simple, no frills format: display the newest ones at the top in a reverse chronological order. With the proposed changes, this would implement a news feed style similar to Facebook, where content that is deemed important gets pushed to the top, and everything else gets buried. This "importance" factor is based on a number things in the Twitter algorithm, such as how many people are talking about that topic, and how much money is being spent to promote it.

How will the new Twitter algorithm affect you?

In an effort to become more accessible for new and occasional users as a source of mainstream news, Twitter is going to make it harder for brands (and influencers) to reach their fans. Naturally,a lot of people aren't very excited by the change. Look no further than this article showing reactions from various users. However, like it or not, the most newsworthy information is going to be featured at the top of a user's timeline, and everything below will be based off of calculations that determine whether or not your tweet gets seen. Much like we've seen with the changes to Facebook over the past few years, your strategy will need to adapt in order to thrive. Otherwise, you risk posting content that falls flat.
[box]To put it simply, under the old Twitter rules, you had a voice that could be read regardless of whether you had a few fans or tens of thousands of them. Under the new rules, your tweets might get filtered if they don't meet certain criteria.[/box]
Do you have a strategy for the upcoming Twitter algorithm changes? Will you consider paid campaigns in order to continue pushing your content out to your audience? Send us a comment on Facebook or a tweet to @SeafoamMedia with your thoughts!