Hating the new Twitter algorithms? Always hated the ads, suggestions, and random people you don't follow added to your feed? Feeling like there's no way to control any of this and you want to throw your computer out the window and be done with Twitter forever? Fear not, there is a super easy way to fix all of this!
Have you ever really used the list function of your Twitter feed except to make creepy lists you like to brag about? Did you know that you can use it them control your Twitter experience? I am here to tell you how to use Twitter lists to keep yourself in control of your Twitter feed, instead of it controlling you.
Lists can be made private or public. I recommend making private lists for this, because you're the only one who needs to see this, or utilize it. Lists can be done in different ways. You can create what I call a "shadow feed" where you add everybody you follow on twitter, to a single list. You can create lists by category, which is what I do. I have two: politics/religion and celebs. This way I can better control the content and my stress/anxiety levels. However you choose to make a list, the point then is the only go into your Twitter through those lists. Bookmark them and go into them only, not your main feed.
Why bother with lists? Anything through a list has no ads, suggestions, or anything added to it that you didn't add yourself. You can add to or take away people if you decide you don't like their content, but still follow them. I call this "following" and "follow following." A follow means you just follow somebody, but a "follow follow" means they get added to your list and you'll be seeing everything they post. There are no skipped tweets, no algorithm, it's just straight tweets, period.
Another thing I do that I highly recommend: Now that you are able to see every tweet of the people you follow, if you notice that there are some people in your lists that tweet too much in a day and take over your list feed, you can remove them from your list, and make a point to go into their twitter page directly when you want to, to see what they're tweeting.
All of this puts the control of what you see, how you see it, and when you see it, back to you. No pornbots, no ads, no algorithms that change weekly to mess up your feed. I honestly would have quit twitter years ago if I hadn't figured this out.
If you're frustrated with twitter, to the point that you're considering quitting, please try this out. I guarantee that it will improve your experience. And if you're an antiracist activist, like me, this will better allow you to keep up the fight, when you aren't having to fight the basic Twitter layout too.
