Twitter Experiments With a Private Feed
Twitter’s main feature is that everyone’s updates mingle in one vast, public stream, even if each person has a filtered view of it. But two experiments being run by the company suggest it is dabbling with the idea of offering people private and personalized feeds alongside the public one.

The experiments may provide a preview of how Twitter will further expand a service that started out simple but is now becoming more complex (see “Facebook and Twitter Are Converging”).
Opting in to the experiments involves following two special Twitter accounts, which then send personalized messages using the service’s direct message function.
The first of these experiments, @magicrecs, was launched in June. Its followers receive direct messages containing recommendations for other Twitter accounts and tweets that may be of interest. The account’s profile says that it will also recommend “content,” although I’ve not seen any reports of that happening yet.
A second experimental account with a similar design appeared earlier this month. Called @eventparrot, it sends its followers personalized updates on breaking news via direct messages.
Making these services regular accounts that people follow to opt in to is a clever way to introduce this new kind of function without changing Twitter’s overall design much. Twitter could build many more of these services—they’d inevitably be referred to as “apps”—and even make money by using them to push targeted ads.
Perhaps we’ll see @eventparrot joined by @weathertoucan (local weather forecasts), @musicloon (song suggestions based on the accounts you follow), and @dealshawk (personalized offers near your current location).
Keep Reading
Most Popular
A Roomba recorded a woman on the toilet. How did screenshots end up on Facebook?
Robot vacuum companies say your images are safe, but a sprawling global supply chain for data from our devices creates risk.
A startup says it’s begun releasing particles into the atmosphere, in an effort to tweak the climate
Make Sunsets is already attempting to earn revenue for geoengineering, a move likely to provoke widespread criticism.
10 Breakthrough Technologies 2023
These exclusive satellite images show that Saudi Arabia’s sci-fi megacity is well underway
Weirdly, any recent work on The Line doesn’t show up on Google Maps. But we got the images anyway.
Stay connected
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.