Reduce Timeline Clutter: Stop Tweets from People You Don't Follow

If you've used Twitter on your smartphone sometime in the past two weeks, you've probably noticed that tweets from users you don't follow have been popping up on your timeline.

In case you're not familiar with this new Twitter feature, check out two screenshots below from my own timeline, showing a tweet that someone I follow favorited and another tweet that shows a tweet from an account that someone I follow follows.

So what's up with this new Twitter feature, and how do we get rid of it? The answer isn't exactly ideal, but at least it's something.

According to Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, you will see tweets that other people favorite only if you pull down to refresh your timeline two times and there is no new content from any of the accounts you follow.

In order to not get these tweets, it's as simple as not pulling down to refresh more than once very quickly. If you give it time, a new tweet will surely pop up eventually, so don't refresh like crazy every few seconds. If you're a Twitter addict like me, that might be easier said than done.

Costolo goes on to say that people that are refreshing their Twitter timeline quickly probably want more content, so Twitter provides them with it. Using an algorithm that identifies popular or relevant accounts and tweets according to the people you follow, a tweet will appear specifically tailored for you at the top of your timeline.

You can read more about the new feature over at Twitter's timeline help page, where they go into a bit more detail as to how they decide which content to show you.