Dorsey Hints Twitter Could Look Like Facebook

Twitter's interim boss - flashing "shades of Steve Jobs" - is plotting out a massive overhaul of the service which could see it looking a lot more like Facebook.

Jack Dorsey said he would spare no sacred cows while trying to turn around the site's fortunes, and suggested that the unfiltered timeline of tweets could become more like Facebook's algorithmically ranked news feed.

Twitter shares slumped by 11% in after-hours trading after the service confirmed it was still struggling to add users .

In an earnings call he pushed for a "questioning of our fundamentals" including the timeline, to "balance recency with relevance".

That suggests that Twitter is eyeing Facebook's system of using complex algorithms to rank posts by relevance, rather than time posted.

It has already introduced a feature showing users popular tweets that they may have missed since the last time they logged on.

Mr Dorsey repeatedly praised the feature - in which tweets appear under the heading 'while you were away' - suggesting it could expand.

He said: "I'm definitely seeing a lot more value at the top of my stream."

He also said he was excited about a forthcoming features known as Project Lightning, which will employ human editors to collect top tweets about live events and trending news topics as stories unfold.

Mr Dorsey endorsed it, saying it would launch in the autumn, and said "there's a lot more to do" to move away from reverse chronology.

One analyst on the call said he showed "shades" of late Apple boss Steve Jobs, who turned around his once-ailing company to make it one of the most successful tech firms ever.

To turn Twitter around, Mr Dorsey said the company needs to have more "disciplined execution," simplify the service so people can learn how to use it faster, and market the platform better so people understand why Twitter use is important.

But he and his executive team have a tough task ahead, with analysis by the Financial Times suggesting that up to 450 of the firm's staff members have quit in the past year. That represents around 10% of the total headcount.