Twitter fans can lay today’s speculation to rest; the new site has arrived. It looks a lot cleaner, much like Tweetdeck’s Twitter client, and finally makes it easier to navigate the main website.
With a simplistic and stylized interface, you can finally extract the functions of Twitter, which are much more sensibly laid out. There’s support for photos and videos, more inherent social direction for interacting with other users, and a slick, 2-column layout. The new Twitter website will be rolled out to all its users over the next few weeks, fulfilling the wishes of millions of Twitter users far and wide.
The question of whether or not Twitter’s new design will be a threat to third party applications still remains, but it’s unlikely that it will displace the entire market all together. As some have already pointed out, the new Twitter lacks certain features like multi-account sign in and analytics.
The website overhaul was a long time coming, but Twitter’s been pretty active in updating certain features on its site for a while now. The company’s recent delve into mobile apps has demonstrated Twitter’s desire to become more relevant to its existing user base, and so third party Twitter apps have had some time to recognize Twitter’s intent and adjust accordingly.
For certain perks like analytics and vertical use cases (charity bidding, etc.), third party tools will remain relevant. Many apps, such as Seesmic, have ensured their future by expanding beyond Twitter in order to become a social media tool–not just a Twitter tool.
Nevertheless, the move is a great one for Twitter. It appears as though the company is really taking its branding and user experience seriously, which is key, given over half of Twitter’s activity still takes place on its website. Some very interesting insight comes from The New York Times, noting Evan Williams’ reaction at the previous site’s rendition as he worked with engineers on the rebuild. “He has said that he is surprised that anyone can use the service, given how difficult its Web site is to navigate.”
And that pretty much says it all. Thanks Evan. Can I please have the @KristenNicole Twitter name now?
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