X has tweaked its algorithm to try and fix what might be its biggest problem.
The company, owned by Elon Musk and formerly known as Twitter, said that it was changing the way it works to try and make the site less of a “battleground”.
In recent years, X has received sustained criticism for failing to cultivate community and instead rewarding divisive and sometimes confusing posts by pushing them up its feed.
Now, the company says that it is aware of that problem and has attempted to fix it by adding more data to the algorithm that chooses what posts are shown as a user scrolls.
“We're rolling out a small tweak to boost visibility of your posts to your mutuals (people who you follow back),” said Nikita Bier, the company’s head of product. “We noticed this data was missing from the algo and it made your friends appear less in your replies.
“This resulted in the reply section feeling more like a battleground with people you don't recognise. This should also help clusters form around interests more easily, which many people have asked for.”
It comes after similar changes at Threads, the rival to X that was launched as an Instagram product by parent company Meta around the time that Elon Musk took control of Twitter. That site too has made changes that are aimed at allowing people to find communities more easily, as well as a new tool called “Your Algo” that aims to let people have more control over what is shown in their feed.
