X launched a public test of a new feed filter option, which will enable X users to get a more focused stream of content around chosen topics.
The topic filter lets X users put more emphasis on trending news stories, alongside popular topic categories. That will then guide X’s algorithm to emphasize chosen focus topics in the main For You feed.
X’s head of product Nikitia Bier said that the feature is designed to help users stay on top of the latest news around rapidly evolving world events.
Bier first announced that users in the U.S. and Canada on iOS would be able to access the new feed filter, but then expanded it further, and said the tool would be temporarily available to users in Egypt, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, UAE, Lebanon, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Cyprus.
Given the latest events in the Middle East, the idea, presumably, is that this will provide more ways for users in the most impacted regions to put a bigger focus on the latest news within their X feed, which could help them stay on top of key updates and concerns.
And in broader terms, it could provide a means for all X users to realign their For You feed around evolving topics of interest as their attentions shift.
Which automatically happens to some degree, as the X algorithm learns from user engagement behaviors, and works to show people more of what they’re interacting with in the app. But then again, X has also previously reported that 80% of X users never post themselves, nor do they engage with any content in-stream (i.e. like or re-post). As such, direct user engagement may not be the best guide, which could make this a valuable addition for improving the value of X as a real-time news feed.
X hasn’t provided a full overview of how the system works, or said whether the change is temporary or needs to be set every time a user logs in.
But it could be another way to drive more in-app engagement, with X also recently making the algorithm-defined For You feed the default home feed for all users, even those who choose the Following feed instead.
