Twitter has decided to drop its hand-picked “suggested user” list following controversy about how it is selected, senior executives revealed yesterday.

Biz Stone, a Twitter co-founder, said that the social-networking site was looking for more systematic ways to introduce prominent tweeters, such as celebrities, sports stars and politicians, to newcomers to the site.

"That list will be going away," said Mr Stone said at a conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia. "In its stead will be something that is more programmatically chosen, something that actually delivers more relevant suggestions."

The list, which contains around 500 suggested users, has proven to be controversial following its launch earlier this year. Political watchdogs in California have claimed that it favours Democrats over Republicans in that state's gubernatorial elections next year.

Those on the roll call get a significant boost in traffic, with some estimates suggesting they gain around 500,000 followers as a result. This bestows the recommended user with a new-found power among Twitter’s communities.

The science and technology writer Steven Johnson said recently that he suddenly rose from having 5,000 followers to having an army of 630,000 following his tweets, shortly after being placed on the list. The number rises every hour.

He told the New York Times: “That is a big force. I’m not Oprah, but I can get some chatter about something going pretty effectively — I put a link to something and I can see it repeated.”

Currently, Mr Stone and other company employees choose who to endorse in this way. Twitter has said the user recommendations are based on those "who show that they provide value by posting often and engaging with their followers"

Mr Stone indicated the suggestions may eventually be tailored to new users' interests, though he did not elaborate. He also did not say when the list would be removed or replaced.

He added that Twitter plans to add other new features, including an easier, faster way to forward messages, and wants to be translated into more languages. It is presently available in English, Japanese and Spanish.

"Ninety-seven percent of our efforts are basically on delivering user value," he said. "Everyone is still experimenting. It's still young, it's still early. Anything goes right now as we figure out what works and what doesn't work."

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