In search of engagement, Twitter brings algorithmic timelines to Communities

The private, interest-based networking feature launched last year will now gain their own algorithmic-based timelines. Initially, the option will be tested with a select group of users.

The "For You" feed and the "Latest" feed will be used in this test. Users will be able to switch back and forth between the two options, and whichever option you choose will become the default when you return to that group.

Users will be able to keep up with the top conversations in Communities with the option. Communities like a Harry Styles fan group and a cooking community are examples.

The lack of conversation is the issue in our experience across more than 20 Communities.

The new options could help address that, as the top of the feed could be the location of any engagement-related Tweets. The quieter the community, the more active it seems.

The idea was to create a place for people to connect with other people who share the same interests. There is a lot of overlap between Communities and Topics, which helps people discover the conversation around a given subject by tailoring their feed with ads related to the Topics they follow If you just want to listen to the conversation about Apple or startup, you should follow that topic.

Although Communities could allow for users to more directly connect with people who post about a particular topic, the feature was implemented in an odd, semi-public format. Only other people in the community can reply to your public message. Users may not feel comfortable fanning out about their interests in public as a result of this design choice. You still feel exposed when you post on the global, public feed, even though you have a Community account.

If you are in the test group, you will be able to change the look of your Community timelines from a new setting in the upper right-hand corner.

Other updates to Communities include giving mod and admins the ability to pin their Community Tweets on the web, the addition of communities search on the web, and member search on all platforms.

As the feature is further developed, more features will be added to Communities over the coming months, according to a statement that seems to somewhat contradict a report that says work on consumer-facing features like Spaces, Communities and newsletters is being scaled back.