I don't have any hard facts, but I'll venture a guess. Certain features were taken out to make it more cost effective to run Steemit, yes in the midst of all the Steemit, Inc. drama. What it looks like to me is that the feature in the code that arranged the listing in alphabetical order was taken out to save space, and now you see the listing in reverse chronological order, the way it was recorded on the block-chain, listing the most recent account we followed first.

Looks like the same happened with the follower list; the last one to follow us, is listed first. (as if you are looking from the present into the past)

Hope this makes sense, and again, that is what it looks like to me. Cheers!