Twitter's Latest Recommendations Weren't What You'd Expect

Engagement is pretty much the cornerstone of any social network, so it isn't any surprise that big sites like Facebook and Twitter try to grow your friends lists by surfacing the profiles of people you might know or asking you to import your contacts from your phone. Twitter, however, has been testing a feature that goes in the completely opposite direction, as it presents a list of people it think you should unfollow.

Even though that seems a little backward for a site that's built around following other users, Twitter is testing it nonetheless. The test was first discovered by users, such as Matt Navarra from The Next Web. Twitter then confirmed the test in a statement to Slate.

"We know that people want a relevant Twitter timeline," a Twitter representative told Slate. "One way to do this is by unfollowing people they don't engage with regularly. We ran an incredibly limited test to surface accounts that people were not engaging with to check if they'd like to unfollow them."

Twitter said that the test lasted only a few days and has since concluded. There's no telling how many how many people were included in the test or what Twitter plans to do next. Will unfollow suggestions roll out to all users following this test? Maybe the feature will be canned and we'll never hear of it again? What Twitter does from here is anyone's guess.

In any case, it's an interesting idea, especially coming from a company that's centered around social interaction. The idea that unfollowing users would increase engagement does seem strange at first, but it could work. We'll see what happens next, but for now, head down to the comments section and let us know if you'd benefit from a feature like this.