Twitter gets tweaked in a big way
SAN FRANCISCO - Twitter has redesigned its short messaging service to make it simpler, faster and more personal. The changes were released Thursday in updates to Twitter's applications for smartphones and tablet computers. Visitors to Twitter's website should start seeing the new look during the next few weeks.
Twitter revamped the service to address one of its biggest challenges. Although a lot of people generally know what Twitter is, many still don't understand how to use the service and its various tools.
With the changes, it will be easier to find people and companies with Twitter profiles. All it will take is typing an "at" symbol in front of a user's handle. Profile pages are also being expanded so individuals and companies can showcase more information about themselves in text, photos and video.
For Twitter, the redesign ushers in a change in how its users will access their most important tweets, as well as what they deem to be the most important information in those tweets.
In rolling out the changes this morning at the company's San Francisco headquarters, Twitter's Jack Dorsey described the redesign as a way to make Twitter easier to use - especially to a wider universe of users who likely have no idea what a hash tag signifies.
"Twitter should be usable for people who know the shortcuts and also equally usable for those who don't," he said.
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Beyond the cosmetic tweaks, Twitter also announced something that's potentially even more important: the launch of brand pages with 21 marketers, a move to raise its profile as a branded destination with advertisers. Prior to today's announcement, Twitter exec Adam Bain told Ad Age that potential advertisers had regularly requested brand pages in their meetings with the company.