Twitter Algorithm

Twitter Algorithm Insights in 2023

This guide breaks down the mechanics of the Twitter algorithm based on open-sourced codebases published on March 31, 2023 [1]. It covers key visibility factors, scoring mechanisms, and engagement weights that determine tweet reach [1].

Reputation and Tweepcred Scoring

User reputation is quantified through the Tweepcred PageRank algorithm, which outputs a final score on a scale of 0 to 100 [1]. This score is calculated using several factors:

• Account age, number of followers, and device usage contribute to a user's base reputation score [1].
• The algorithm assigns a numerical score based on the number and quality of interactions with other users [1].
• Scores are adjusted based on the user's follower-to-following ratio, meaning users with a low number of followers and a high number of followings experience a reduction in page rank [1].
• If a user's Tweepcred score is less than 65, the ranking algorithm limits the maximum number of considered tweets to 3 [1].

Visibility Boosts and Tweet Longevity

Paid subscriptions and time decay significantly alter how tweets perform in the system [1]:

• Twitter Blue subscribers receive a 4x boost in the algorithm within the same network and a 2x boost outside of it [1].
• Tweets have a half-life of 360 minutes, which causes their relevancy score to decrease by 50 percent every 6 hours [1].

Engagement Weights

Interactions carry specific weights within the ranking process [1]:

• A reply to a tweet followed by subsequent author engagement carries a heavy weight of 75 [1].

What is not covered

Specific details regarding negative feedback loops, the internal mechanics of the Earlybird and heavy-ranker components, and exact GitHub repository structures are not covered.