The newest update to the Twitter Android app is something that not everyone will probably welcome, especially those that are very protective of their mobile privacy. The social media giant announced that they are now looking at the apps you have installed on your smartphone to know more about your behaviour when using your device.
But before you start a petition to boycott Twitter or to file privacy violation claims against them, you need to know two things about this new "feature": you can opt out of it and it will only look at installed apps on your smartphone, not how you use the app itself. If you've already been updated to the latest version of the Twitter app, you can adjust the settings on "Tailor Twitter based on my apps". They also emphasize that they are just looking at the data provided by Google on what apps are already installed on your smartphone, not how many times you use it or what information you've stored there.
So why is Twitter doing this in the first place? In the FAQ section, they state three reasons. One is to improve on their suggestions on who you should follow, which you've been seeing on your timeline for some time now (and which is sometimes laughably innacurate). Another is to suggest tweets and accounts on your timeline which their algorithm thinks you'll find interesting. Third is to show you "more relevant promoted content", which in other words means, they need to make more money to sell more ads that are relevant to you.
Just like Facebook, Twitter is a free service that we use, so our complaints sometimes seems pointless since we're not actually paying them to be able to use their product. But still, there is an unspoken (and sometimes explicit) understanding of a reasonable expectation of privacy between the social network and users. Now whether you see this update as a way to improve what they show you on your timeline or a gross invasion of privacy, actually depends on how you look at free social networks in general.
VIA: Re/Code
SOURCE: Twitter