• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, February 8, 2016

Twitter’s still doing damage control days after a report suggesting that the network is ready to restructure its timeline. Rather than chronological order, the social giant plans to rank tweets by popularity, Buzzfeed revealed on Friday night.

Rallying around the hashtag #RIPTwitter, incensed users managed to turn their frustrations into a trending topic on Twitter, over the weekend.

Buzzfeed made it clear that the change will be optional and opt-in, while CEO Jack Dorsey posted several tweets insisting that Twitter still values “real-time” conversations above all else.

Yet, that didn’t seem to allay users’ sense of betrayal, and, while they might be bluffing, plenty of long-time tweeters are promising to drop Twitter if the change is made. 

Therein lies Twitter’s biggest obstacle. As its usership and revenue projections continue to slide -- and its stock price sinks -- the company remains caught between competing interests:those of its longtime users who are happy with its design, versus the majority of consumers, who have always found the service to be confusing and rather pointless.

Dorsey has committed to real change. Among other shifts, he recently reconsidered Twitter’s defining 140-character limit, and decided to embed live streaming Periscope broadcasts directly into tweets.

In another major shift, the company is also increasingly opening its doors to unregistered visitors. As of earlier this month, people without Twitter accounts can follow a variety of content streams in real time.

For diehards, however, the mere suggestion that Twitter is moving away from real-time chronological posting is too much.

In the face of these threats, Twitter appears determined to test a new timeline. According to those who have seen the new design, it simply expands on the service’s “while you were away” feature.

“Spend an entire day away from Twitter, and when you open the app again, you'll see highlights from the day,” The Verge reports.

That may sounds pretty harmless, but hardcore users are itching for a fight. If Twitter can’t sell them on the coming changes, its problems could go from bad to worse.