#Help. There's a STRANGER in my Twitter timeline

What can I do about? Write a tweet of course

Twitter has admitted to fiddling with users' timelines, sparking the sort of social media backlash which is fast becoming a wearying fixture of modern life.

The chirpy chaps of Twitter claimed the "spirit of experimentation" made them decide to wodge unwanted tweets in users' feeds.

Seeing stuff from people you don't follow makes social media "more interesting and relevant", Twitter claimed.

But the terse folk of social media are furious that their constant stream of rubbish has been sullied with yet more rubbish.

In a statement, Twitter's Trevor O'Brien said: "One of our goals for experimentation is to continue improving your home timeline. After all, that’s the best way to keep up with everything happening in your world. Choosing who to follow is a great first step – in many cases, the best Tweets come from people you already know, or know of.

"But there are times when you might miss out on Tweets we think you’d enjoy. To help you keep up with what’s happening, we’ve been testing ways to include these Tweets in your timeline — ones we think you’ll find interesting or entertaining."

Users will be shown various tweets based on people they already follow and the activity of their network.

Awful? You'd better bloody believe it, said the good people of Planet Twitter.

Apparently, George Orwell would be really peeved, if he were alive (and on Twitter).

@jtlovell1979 @twitter George Orwell must be spinning in his grave, unless he was cremated.

— Ita Bloyce (@Ita99) October 17, 2014

Here's what one other angry chap of social media had to say:

@twitter Can you also build an option to turn this feature off for those of us who do not want those unrequested Tweets in our timeline?

— boz (@bloggingsbyboz) October 17, 2014

Worried about what you see on Twitter? Turn off the computer and do something else. Problem solved. ®