“For You” algorithms that promote the most interesting content on a social network, personalized to each user, provided a disjointed, outdated and almost unusable experience on election night in the United States, by highlighting posts several hours old which no longer reflected the message. current state of the race. The frustrations were particularly strong Topicsrival Meta , even after it became clear that Harris was losing ground. to President-elect Trump in battleground states. These posts continued to appear after Trump’s victory, as if users had temporarily traveled back in time.

“This app is horrible for tonight. The outdated bullshit I see in the For You thread is infuriating,” wrote » a Threads user, echoing a sentiment shared on the platform on election night.

“Seeing 24-hour-old optimistic messages interspersed with the fear of the present moment kind of sucks.” wrote another, talking about the experience of Harris supporters on the social network, as the thread randomly threw current posts into the middle of those from earlier in the evening.

Others have called Threads’ For You thread chafing salt in the wound, painful, boringand releasing a “non-linear horror film atmosphere.“

These complaints aren’t new, but they are indicative of a larger problem facing Threads: its user interface.

It turns out that the reverse chronological flow these users wanted on Threads already exists.

Spear in July 2023, Threads offers users a subscription feed that only displays posts from users you follow on the social network, with no recommended content included. The feed works similarly to X’s Next Feed, in that posts are not sorted algorithmically, but are displayed in the order they arrive. However, unlike

Meanwhile, on X, switching to the timeline feed is as simple as tapping the tab at the top of the screen, making it easy to switch between a real-time and algorithmic experience.

The problem is how Threads designed its app to hide the next feed from users.

On mobile, users need to tap the Discussions icon at the top of the screen to view the two tab options, For You and Next. Ideally, both tabs would always be available, allowing users to choose the experience they prefer at that time. On the Web, Threads offered a TweetDeck-like experience since Mayallowing users to pin multiple columns, including the timeline feed. But real-time events, like elections, are often watched on the phone, glued to the television. And it’s here on mobile that Threads fails.

The problem is not limited to Threads. On TikTok, launching the For You feed on Wednesday morning can show a mix of videos with outdated election coverage and personalized to your interests and trends. (Unless you actively avoid politics on the platform, of course). This means you might see videos calling for people to vote even after the election has been decided, which is also frustrating and unnecessary.

It’s unclear whether user complaints will have any impact, but it’s unlikely.

Regulators have pushed social media platforms to disable addictive algorithmic feeds in some markets, including EUbut there are no rules in the United States on how these feeds should work or if they can be set as default. Allowing users to permanently switch to a chronological timeline is not an option Meta or others would like, as algorithmic feeds work better for advertisers And data indicates that they are increasing the number of users engagement. This leaves users at the mercy of chaotic algorithmic feeds at a time when real-time information is critical.