How to Refresh the Twitter Algorithm

Feeling like your X (formerly Twitter) feed is stuck in a rut, showing you the same old accounts or content that no longer interests you? You're not alone. The algorithm is designed to learn from your behavior, but sometimes it learns the wrong lessons, limiting your creativity and reach. This guide will give you concrete, actionable steps to clean up, reset, and actively retrain the X algorithm to work for you again.

How the Twitter (X) Algorithm *Really* Works

Before you can retrain it, you need to understand what it's looking for. The X algorithm isn’t a single, mysterious force, it’s a collection of systems that prioritize content based on signals you send every time you use the app. While the exact formula is complex and ever-changing, its goals are simple: keep you engaged and show you relevant content.

It’s All About the Signals You Send

Your "For You" timeline is a direct reflection of your activity. The algorithm pays close attention to several important factors:

• Your Engagements: Every like, reply, Repost, and poll vote you make is a data point. It tells the algorithm, "Show me more of this."
• Your Follows and Mutes: Who you follow is the strongest signal of all. Who you mute sends an equally strong message, just in the opposite direction.
• Your Topics and Interests: Behind the scenes, X actively categorizes your interests based on your behavior and a list of "Topics" you can manually curate.
• Your Own Content: The tweets you write and the conversations you have signal your areas of expertise and interest to the platform.

The good news is that you have direct control over all these signals. Refreshing your feed is less about finding a hidden "reset" button and more about consciously sending it better, more accurate information about what you want to see.

Step 1: Out with the Old - Perform an Account Triage

The first step in refreshing the algorithm is to clean house. Over the years, you've likely accumulated digital dust - old follows, irrelevant likes, and forgotten interest settings that are muddying the waters. An algorithmic spring cleaning will give you a fresh foundation to build upon.

Audit and Cull Your Following List

The accounts you follow are the single biggest influence on what your feed looks like. If you're following hundreds or thousands of accounts you no longer interact with, you're sending diluted signals.

Set aside 20-30 minutes to scroll through your "Following" list. Ask yourself these questions for each account:

• When was the last time they posted? (If it's been over six months, they're probably inactive).
• Does their content still align with my current interests or professional goals?
• Do I genuinely enjoy or get value from seeing their tweets?

Be practical about this process. Start with the oldest accounts you followed and work your way forward. Unfollowing someone isn't personal, it's about curating your digital space. Cleaning out hundreds of irrelevant or inactive accounts will instantly give your "For You" timeline a breath of fresh air.

Master the Art of Muting

Sometimes, you can't or don't want to unfollow an account - maybe it’s a work colleague, a client, or a friend - but their content isn't what you want filling your feed. This is where the Mute feature is your best friend. Muting an account removes their tweets from your timeline without unfollowing them. They'll never know you've muted them.

You can also mute specific keywords, phrases, or hashtags. If you're tired of seeing hot takes about a particular TV show, political event, or meme, just mute the relevant words. This gives you incredibly granular control over your feed's content.

How to Mute: Navigate to Settings -> Privacy and safety -> Mute and block -> Muted words. Add anything that's generating noise in your feed.

Review Your Topics and Interests

X automatically assigns you interests based on your activity, but it also allows you to manually follow "Topics." These heavily influence the "For You" timeline, but many people set them once and forget about them. It's time to check what you’ve told X you care about.

Find your Topics by heading to Settings -> Privacy and safety -> Content you see -> Topics. You'll see a list of topics you currently follow. Unfollow any that look dated or no longer apply to you. Then, browse other suggested topics and intentionally follow new ones that align with your new direction. This is like handing the algorithm a new map and telling it precisely where you want it to go.

Step 2: Proactively Retrain with High-Impact Engagement

Once you’ve cleaned out the old signals, it's time to create new, better ones. This phase is all about being intentional with your time on the platform. Instead of passively scrolling, you're going to actively engage in a way that teaches the algorithm exactly what you are looking for.

Fall in Love with Twitter Lists

If you take away only one strategy from this guide, make it this one: use X lists. A list is a curated timeline of specific accounts that you create. It completely bypasses the main algorithm and only shows you tweets from the people you’ve added. Lists are the single most powerful tool for taking back control of your feed.

Create separate, private lists for different purposes:

• "Industry Experts:" For thought leaders and news sources in your niche.
• "Friends & Family:" To make sure you never miss their updates.
• "Learning & Inspiration:" For creators, writers, or artists who inspire you.
• "Clients / Customers:" to keep a close eye on their activity and jump into relevant conversations.

Simply consuming content in lists helps declutter your mind, but to really retrain the main algorithm, you need to engage with the content in these lists. Spend 15 minutes each day scrolling through a specific list and reply, like, and Repost from there. This sends highly-concentrated signals to the algorithm that this - the content from these specific accounts - is what you value most.

Engage with Purpose

Mindless scrolling and liking is a passive activity that reinforces your existing bubble. To break out of it, you need to change how you engage. It should no longer be something you do mindlessly, instead, it becomes an actively engaged activity.

First, search for keywords and hashtags related to the topics you want to see more of. Find active conversations and jump in. Don't just like a tweet, leave a thoughtful reply that adds value. A genuine, engaging reply is weighted far more heavily by the algorithm than a simple like. It shows you’re a valuable part of a conversation, which elevates your visibility and signals to the algorithm that the topic of that conversation is important to you.

Use the “Not Interested” Button More Often

Your "For You" page is one huge A/B test. As you send new signals, the algorithm will try out different types of content on you. This is your chance to give it direct feedback. Whenever you see a tweet that you don't find interesting or relevant, click the three-dot menu (...) on the post and select "Not interested in this Tweet."

This is a direct, negative feedback loop that is incredibly effective. Using it a handful of times in a single session can immediately alter the composition of your feed.

Step 3: Signal Your Niche through Your Own Content

Finally, remember that the algorithm also learns about you from the content you create. Positioning yourself as an expert or passionate voice in a specific area will slowly change who the algorithm shows your content to, and in turn, what communities and conversations it funnels you toward.

Refine Your Profile and Post with Keywords

Make sure your bio clearly states what you do and what you talk about. Use industry-specific keywords naturally. The algorithm scans your bio to understand who you are. The same rule applies to your tweets. Weave in important keywords that are relevant to your desired niche. This helps the algorithm categorize your content correctly and show it to people with similar interests - and also show you like-minded content.

Focus on Consistency and Conversation

A consistent posting schedule signals to the algorithm that you're an active and reliable contributor to the platform. An account that tweets daily about social media marketing will be seen as more relevant to that topic than one that posts once a month.

More importantly, always engage with the replies you receive. When someone takes the time to comment on your tweet, reply to them. This creates a "conversation loop," which greatly boosts the visibility of your original tweet. The algorithm prioritizes content that sparks genuine interaction, and by encouraging it on your own posts, you demonstrate your value to the community.

Final Thoughts

Refreshing the X algorithm isn’t a one-time fix but an ongoing practice of digital mindfulness. You can transform your feed from a source of noise into a powerfully curated tool for learning, networking, and growth. It's about pruning the old data and intentionally seeding new, relevant signals over time. The key is in treating your timeline as something you build, not just something you receive.

As social media professionals, we know that consistency is everything, so staying active and on top of this kind of proactive management is a game-changer. But we also know it's easier said than done. So, with our management platform, Postbase, we wanted to streamline the entire process of showing up every day on social media. Using Postbase's clean and easy-to-use content calendar, combined with our powerful one-and-done composer that's fit to publish across EVERY platform, allows you to schedule all your content at the drop of a hat. This saves you much-needed time and energy, which can then be better invested in more strategic initiatives to grow your account.