A Twitter bug has been creeping its way through user timelines, causing “you might like” users to populate personal feeds without permission.

I don't know you!

Unauthorised followers had Twitter users in a united uproar over the nature of these new unknowns. Twitter has since stated that they are working on a fix.

The nature of the accidental border-jumping is actually a case of mistaken labeling.

The “you might like” category previously held yet-to-be-friended tweeters in a separate box, but have since moved to a labeling system, and in this case, the label was missing. 

Fun with labels

Its interesting to note a trend that took place across Twitter and Tumblr from late December to early January of this year.

Users were posting various movie stills, and intentionally mislabeled for comic effect.

These ranged from an X-Files still, labeled as Westworld, to the gang of Jersey Shore entitled as Reservoir Dogs.

The new labeling system is an effort on Twitter’s part to contend with ongoing issues of user growth and engagement. Once the bug is fixed, Twitter may need to reconsider its approach to ingratiating different users to one and other.