Logged into Twitter this morning to find that your follower count had dropped? You aren’t alone.
Twitter has altered the method it uses to count the number of followers an account has, revealed CEO Jack Dorsey on July 11. From now on, the algorithm will not include accounts that have been locked for bad behaviour until they have been unsuspended.
Your average Joe will lose around four or five followers because of the change, Twitter told The Verge. But large accounts could lose hundreds of thousands of followers, with former President Barack Obama leading the pack with a total loss of 400,000.
Vijaya Gadde, Trust Lead at Twitter, issued a statement on July 12 explaining the move:
You should be confident that the follower numbers presented across Twitter are meaningful and accurate. We’re introducing a change to follower counts as part of our work to make Twitter a more trusted service for public conversation.
Twitter said there are several reasons it would lock an account, ranging from something as innocent as the account’s email and password being shared online as part of a leak to something as sinister to the user sharing links to misleading content.
Related: How to delete your Facebook account
The firm informed Trusted Reviews that the changes will be implemented over the course of the next few days, but noted that follower counts will continue to change thereafter is it works around the clock to remove bad accounts from the service.
Do you think removing suspended accounts from your follower count is a good idea? Let us know over on Facebook or Twitter @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
