X Shifts Following Feed to Algorithmic Ranking by Grok AI

X has begun rolling out a significant update to how content is displayed in its app, moving away from a purely chronological “Following” feed to an algorithmically ranked timeline powered by its Grok AI system. The change means that posts from accounts users follow are now ordered based on predicted engagement and relevance rather than the time of publication.

While the option for a chronological view remains available, the new ranking system is now enabled by default in the latest version of the app. Users have also reported that X increasingly opens to the algorithm-based “For You” feed regardless of which tab they last used, further steering engagement toward curated timelines.

According to the company, the algorithm uses a mix of users’ past behavior, topic preferences, and interaction signals from followed accounts to determine which posts appear first. X has suggested that the impact may be less noticeable for users following fewer than about 200 accounts, where chronological and ranked feeds may look similar. However, for most users, the shift represents a clear departure from the platform’s long-standing real-time focus.

The move aligns X more closely with other major social platforms, which have seen strong engagement growth through algorithmic timelines designed to maximize relevance and time spent in-app. However, critics argue that the change risks undermining X’s traditional role as a live microblogging hub used to monitor breaking news and real-time events.