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Twitter has begun rolling out a so-called 'while you were away' summary feature across its apps and website.

The tool shows users a selection of tweets that it considers to be important, and that the user may have missed since they last logged in.

The best tweets are displayed at the top of a user's timeline when they open the site, and are similar to the 'Top stories' prioritised on Facebook.

Twitter has started to roll out its 'while you were away' feature (example pictured), which offers some users of the social network a selection of important tweets that may have missed since they last logged in

The feature was spotted by a number of users over Christmas. 

It works in a similar way to Facebook's news feed feature, which ranks status updates in terms of importance, instead of in chronological order. 

The Facebook tool has previously angered some users who believe they should be able to choose how stories appear - and the Twitter update is likely to cause similar frustrations.

The site did not reveal how it prioritises tweets, or what it considers 'important'.

Twitter announced its plans to roll out features to boost engagement in November, stating at the time: 'Every time you open the Twitter app, you'll see something great.'

It added: 'We can use information like who you follow and what you engage with to surface highlights of what you missed and show those to you as soon as you log back in or come back to the app.'  

The best tweets are displayed at the top of a user's timeline when they open the app (pictured) or website - a new feature, which has delighted some, while annoying others who took to Twitter to complain

It works in a similar way to Facebook's Top stories news feed feature, which ranks status updates in terms of importance, instead of in chronological order (pictured). The Facebook tool has previously angered some users who believe they should be able to choose how stories appear

Now, it appears that more and more users are seeing the 'while you were away' changes, with some noticing the new feature in early December, TechCrunch reported.

It is the first major new feature rolled out by the company, based in San Francisco, California, since it launched promoted tweets and adverts, which also buck its chronological approach.

Twitter declined to comment when MailOnline asked when all users will see the update, and if it will be an optional feature. 

The tool is designed to attract a user's attention to important tweets that can get easily lost in the rapid flow of information, especially if they follow hundreds of people, or do not check their feed very regularly.

A staggering 500 million tweets are published every day.

People reacted on Twitter to the change, with some pouring scorn on the new feature.

One user wrote: '#Twitter new feature to tell me what happened while I was away. I was away because I didn't want to know anything', while another said: 'Why does Twitter show me tweets from last night "while you were away" .. Wack.'

However, one Californian user was among many who praised the change, saying: 'Love the 'While You Were Away' feature at Twitter. Achieves its purpose without affecting real time news feed!'

The new feature may be seen as a move by Twitter to close in on Facebook's social media lead, which has 1.3 billion users, compared to Twitter's 284 million.

Twitter is expected to roll out another new feature called 'instant timeline' to reinvigorate current users and attract news ones early this year.  

Last year, Snapchat leapfrogged Twitter to become the third most used social media app (pictured). Twitter is now releasing new features to make its offering more appealing to current and new users