More focus has now been placed on the useful features of Twitter, more so than the way to use it. In other words, if you’re not using Twitter and don’t know what it is, they feel that you would already be using it.
New Twitter User Interface
The original focus of Twitter has changed slightly. Possibly, the founders didn’t imagine that people would become addicted to searching and following trends, but more for the personal communication between small groups. There were few tools initially created, but now there are thousands that anyone can access across multiple platforms.
An official blog post was released with the following message, indicating a rudimentary direction the service wants to take:
The open and timely exchange of information will have a positive impact on the world and Twitter has a role to play. We have a lot of work to do when it comes to the quality of our search results and trend analysis but repositioning the product to focus more on discovery is an important first step in presenting Twitter to a wider audience of folks around the world who are eager to start engaging with new people, ideas, opinions, events, and sources of information.
We’ll likely continue to make changes to the Twitter home page as we respond to feedback and ideas. We’re eager to see if encouraging a sense of wonder and discovery leads to a better first impression of Twitter.
From a New User’s Perspective
New users might find the new page to be more like Google and other search engines, with a box for inputting particular terms. It was difficult to find this feature if you weren’t logged in or a long-time member previously.
Popular topics by the minute, day, and week are displayed across the bottom portion of the page, and this makes it easier for non-logged in users to discover how the service can be used.
The original links are displayed across the bottom of the page.
Search Functionality
The re-designed main search page is much more functional than the regular search page located at search.twittter.com. You are given an idea of why the topic may be popular, similar to What The Trend. Because it may be screened better than that site, the reason is more defined, although it may be slightly less relevant than what the community decides is the reason a topic is trending. Additionally, it gives further reason for Twitter to deny topics from trending.
Twitter Search Results
Overall, the design of the new search pages have been cleaned up, and more information is presented on each page.
Furthermore, Trending Topics are listed within the top right portion of the page, with search tips (previously there really wasn’t as much emphasis on this). Finally, a link to “join the conversation” is displayed towards the bottom portion of the sidebar.
The Experience
Users that are logged in will not see any of these changes. More importantly, new features may very well be added for everyone in the near future, creating a more seamless design. The big picture right now is that Twitter is clearly positioned to be a major search player, at least for real-time search. Along with other “minor” search engine players, including those included within social networking sites, there may be a different battle taking shape – between traditional search engines and real-time/social search engines.
We’ve seen how the media have butchered attempts at creating news programs with tweets in them. What we need next is for businesses to hold meetings through the service. Honestly, I would like to see more adoption of the service, especially outside of the tech/web scene, but it won’t happen unless the service ties in more features and becomes more “serious.”
Right now, too much is at stake should any more negative reports come out of the service. Users can’t be comfortable posting to the service when they are at risk of losing their jobs or facing court time for a simple message.
via:Demii
Whatsay?
I love the new design.. I wished Twitter would add some clean looks like search page to profile pages too. What about you? Do you like the new design? What are your views about this upgrade? Don’t forget to re-tweet and follow me on twitter @enked.
July 30th, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Twitter is very addictive. I like Twitter more than blogging. the messages are short and straight to the point.
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