Those logging into Twitter last night or this morning may have noticed a significant change in the way conversations are displayed. Now, when people you follow are having a conversation, the tweets will be displayed as a series, linked by a blue line. At the moment, upwards of three tweets will be bumped to the top of timelines, with the familiar ‘expand’ button used to see the rest of the conversation (including the contributions from people you might not follow).

The most noteworthy aspect of this change is that these conversations will be displayed in chronological order: reversing Twitter’s typical method of showing the most recent tweets first. A broken blue line indicates there are undisplayed tweets in-between the ones shown on the timeline.

As is inevitable when it comes to significant change on popular websites, the feature has met with a mixed response: some praising the fact that it makes conversations easier to read and follow, with others observing that the opposite order blue line conversations sit awkwardly on top of the standard timeline flow. However, the Twitter team will be hoping it encourages more people to engage with conversations they may not otherwise have participated in.

Although the timeline change is the most noticeable of the updates, Twitter also introduced a few other significant features. Twitter.com and Android users can now report individual tweets as spam, expanding on a feature previously offered to iPhone users. Those with lower-end Android smartphones will also benefit from yesterday’s update, as the Android Twitter app has been reduced in size, and should now perform better on entry-level phones and tablets.

The video below describes the new conversation timeline: