Twitter is one of the notable social media platforms in the world. It has over 330 million monthly active users (MAU) and roughly 238 million daily active users (DAU). Twitter is atypical and that is why some people never open Twitter accounts. Regardless it is a social media platform that can unlock limitless value for your personal, career, and business life. Our discussion today will immediately benefit those already on Twitter. You probably know that social media platforms run on algorithms. If you can understand the tenets of the algorithm behind, you can use the platform more effectively. Here is what you need to know about the latest Twitter algorithm:
Getting Likes Should Be Your Highest Priority
According to the latest Twitter algorithm, a like gets a 30× boost. That is followed by a retweet that gets a 20× boost. Then a reply just gets a 1× boost. This simply means it is more important to get likes (and retweets).
Visuals Are Essential To Your Content
When tweeting, if you throw in some images and or videos, you get a 2× boost. This comes as no surprise though. Countless surveys over recent years have repeatedly shown how engaging visuals are in content creation.
Links Can Be Problematic
Understandably it may be necessary to include links in your tweets. For many of you, it can actually be harmless links. Unfortunately, Twitter typically labels anything with an external link as spam. Thus inclusion of links can hurt your audience reach. However, if you generally get good engagement that may not significantly hurt your efforts. Overall I feel this external links rule can be counterproductive for many users.
One of the thrusts of social media platforms is to drive or redirect traffic to other platforms e.g. websites. It really feels unfair that including external links is holed up into one set of spam. Whilst on one hand the concern of spam is understandable; putting everything under one umbrella is heavy-handed. Maybe Twitter felt that coding for link assessment would have been too complicated I suppose.
Things That Hurt Your Engagements
I have seen many Twitter users that gloat about certain things. Examples of such are blocking, muting, or unfollowing. Whilst this may be necessary sometimes, it hurts your engagements. Additionally, spam and abuse reports adversely affect your engagements too.
Twitter Blue Enhances Your Reach
Getting the blue verification checkmark is great for your reach. With a Twitter blue paid subscription, you will by design have a higher reach than those without. One may assume this is just a clever way of encouraging people to pay. Despite it benefitting users, Twitter will be the bigger winner here though.
Be Wary Of What You Tweet – Misinformation Is Suppressed
Twitter now heavily downplays anything regarded as misinformation. This may present some grey areas though. Not everything regarded as misinformation is always misinformation. Plus there is always that question of who is the objective authority on what is or is not misinformation. It is even strange how right now in the Twitter algorithm; posts about Ukraine are being categorized as misinformation. It makes you wonder why.
Your Reach Is Affected By The Cluster You Belong To
The Twitter algorithm adds you to a cluster. That is based on your profile. Thus a cluster will essentially be a grouping of similar profiles. Twitter will extend your reach beyond just your followers. It will also reach other profiles that are more or less like yours; even if they are not your followers.
Clustering seems good at first glance; it does promote interactions amongst like-minded people. However, it does seem to isolate or thwart diversity. Some users have even cited that the latest Twitter algorithm is reinforcing echo chambers.
Clustering Has A Huge Bearing On How Your Tweets Perform
Now that you know you are clustered, you need to appreciate this. If you see the code behind the Twitter algorithm, you will notice two key phrases. These are out-of-network and in-network. Think of your cluster as your niche. Tweeting content within your niche is being in network. Then tweeting outside your niche is being out of network.
Whenever you tweet out of network, your tweet(s) will not perform well because you get penalized. The tricky thing about clusters is that most Twitter users do not have niched profiles. It also applies to the people they follow. Thus one may wonder how they can change clusters. So far it kind of seems as if you would need to create a new account to get clustered in the way you want.
Be Wary Of The Words You Use
Here I am referring to spelling and the nature of the words you use. There are two things you must avoid. These are using incorrect spellings and using made-up words. These two dynamics will cause the algorithm to identify such as an unknown language. If the Twitter algorithm detects such in your tweet(s), it will penalize you. Ultimately your reach will be affected.
All in all, there are so many concerns about the latest Twitter algorithm. I loved what someone said recently; it aptly summed up most of what we discussed. This was a comment on the Twitter algorithm:
Great. So we end up in boxes of likeminded people reinforcing prejudices and penalized for sending links providing evidence of our assertions
If you are keen as most people are, you will be left with so many questions. There are obviously reasons behind why Twitter enacts certain rules in their algorithm. Some are understandable and most do raise concerns. Seems freedom of speech is not really being promoted. I do not intend to delve into those dynamics because they are lengthy, intricate and multifaceted. What is important is that you now understand how the Twitter algorithm works. You can strategize your content creation by playing with the algorithm. You could also strategize by working around it; at least you are now better informed.
