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Swathes of Twitter users have expressed annoyance at the roll-out of an experimental new feature.

Users of the social network have reported seeing tweets favourited by other people in their own timeline.

In addition to this, some members have complained that their feed shows tweets alerting them that an account they follow has followed a new account.

Unhappy: Some Twitter users are seeing tweets favourited by other people in their timeline, as well as who they have recently followed. Many people are unhappy with the experiment and are making their views known. Peter Kafka, a journalist at Recode is among users who are seeing the changes (tweet above)

Currently, only retweets posted by accounts that someone has personally chosen to follow show up on timelines, as well as advertisements, The Next Web reports.

Members have voiced their anger over the 'experiment', with many explaining that they were never given the option to opt out of sharing content they had marked as a 'favourite' with their followers. 

One user said: 'I really, REALLY hate all these new Twitter things',while another vented: 'If I wanted to see what my friends favourite, I could look. I neither want nor need it added to my timeline.'

Pictured above is a screenshot taken by Peter Kafka showing notifications of that someone has favourited content and followed accounts on Twitter

The 'favourite' function can be used in a number of ways - it can be employed as a way of acknowledging a tweet and saying thank you, or as a way of saving a message so it is easy to access at a later date. 

Until now, the action of favouriting a message was more 'private' that retweeting it to followers.

Many people have expressed that they simply don't understand the point of the tweak, arguing that it makes favouriting a tweet the same as retweeting it.

The experiment is thought to have been taking place for around a month and commentators say it is unlikely to roll out in its current form.

It is currently unclear how many users are seeing the change in their timeline and are sharing their 'favourite' tweets whether they want to or not. 

MailOnline asked Twitter whether it plans to extend the reach of the experiment and was directed to a blog post about the company's experiments written last year.

The blog post, says: 'We've tested various features with small groups of our 200 million users before determining what we'll release. These tests are essential to delivering the best possible user experience.

'We also experiment with features that may never be released to everyone who uses Twitter. Those experiments are perhaps even more valuable because they help us decide what not to do - which is important as we work to keep Twitter simple while improving the user experience.

'Ultimately, our goal is to learn and keep making the product better; we aren't necessarily looking to launch all of the experiments we roll out.'

Twitter has now updated its help page to shed light on timeline changes.

It reads: 'When we identify a Tweet, an account to follow, or other content that's popular or relevant, we may add it to your timeline.

'This means you will sometimes see Tweets from accounts you don't follow. We select each Tweet using a variety of signals, including how popular it is and how people in your network are interacting with it. Our goal is to make your home timeline even more relevant and interesting.'

Some people who have been affected by the experimental changes are unhappy (such as the twitter user above) although it is not known if the changes will be rolled out widely

Twitter users such as Nils (above) may hope that the experiment will be encourage Twitter to largely stay the same and help it decide 'what not to do'. The company says  in a blog post that it has used experiments to decide upon future features before

Twitter has been leapfrogged by Snapchat, which is not the third most used social media app. Almost a third of 18 to 24-year-olds now use the self-destructing messaging app, compared to 24 per cent who use Twitter