I know there are theoretical alternatives to Twitter, but until the appropriate userbase is out there then they&#x27;re not truly viable alternatives. I know that&#x27;s a Catch-22, or a paradox, or whatever you want to call it, but that&#x27;s the sad reality for those of us that would like to leave the platform. So, in lieu of leaving, here are the features I feel like would help Twitter retain me as a user:<p>1. Bring back custom apps! Twitter is a <i>service</i>, and I want control over how I access that service. This would also take such a huge burden off of Twitter: don&#x27;t care about the super bowl? Use an app that lets you filter hashtags, piece of cake! So many features can be implemented on top of a service, with no extra effort from Twitter. I get that this could  conceivably enable filtering timeline ads, but seriously they can just pull API keys for apps that do that, it&#x27;s a non-issue.<p>2. Let me subscribe to ideas, not just people. If I <i>do</i> care about the super bowl, maybe let me turn on push notifications for tweets about it from people within my network for whom I otherwise do not have push notifications enabled.<p>3. Make chronological timelines a setting. Not an option, not a tab, a semi-permanently enabled <i>setting</i>. It&#x27;s the most annoying thing about Facebook right now, having to explicitly re-enable chronological timelines every week or so when Facebook has &quot;forgotten&quot;. As it stands, even that much is an improvement over Twitter&#x27;s proposed always-on non-chronological timeline.<p>4. Don&#x27;t nanny me unless I ask you to. There have been reports that Twitter has blocked notifications for @replied tweets because Twitter suspected the tweet would be offensive. I get that harassment is an issue and that Twitter was trying to be proactive, but make it an option. The user in this case was failing to be notified of tweets they <i>wanted</i> to see, and had no way to disable the &quot;feature&quot;.<p>5. Inconsistency foments distrust. If you want that blue check mark to mean something then you&#x27;d best lay out a solid and strict process for them. I&#x27;ve seen at least one person have theirs removed over unsubstantiated claims, yet more egregious offenders have kept theirs throughout. I&#x27;ve seen others go through the process for acquire their blue checks and they always seem to have different requirements. Some reported having to change their profile name to their real name, others said they had to put their actual photo on their profile.