TWITTER REDESIGNS ITS INTERFACE
If you are like most Twitter users, you usually access Twitter through a third-party application. Some use browser-based services like Hootsuite, while many prefer desktop applications like Tweetdeck. Still, the majority of tweets come from mobile devices using text messages and mobile apps.
The fact is, that less than half of all tweets are sent from Twitter.com and its web interface. Looking to build up lost ground to many of these applications, Twitter has redesigned its own interface to look more like the third-party apps it competes with.
Some of the newest changes include:
- Reply-all functionality
- Auto-complete when entering someone’s Twitter name for replying and mentions
- Endless Scrolling capability
- “OnMouseOver” – Scrolling over a link to get a preview
Many would agree that the most drastic change in Twitter’s interface is the embedding of content; the days of clicking on a link and having it open in a new web browser are now gone. Now, you can click on a link in a tweet on the left side of the page, and the content – pictures, Youtube video, etc. – open on the right side. With this change, Twitter hopes to keep people on its website longer, and make the experience more intuitive.
However, any other time a social network makes changes to its features and interface, flaws and growing pains are inevitable. For example, On September 21, a security flaw in the “OnMouseOver” feature caused many accounts to be hacked – just by mousing over links in tweets (the issue has since been resolved).
Also, though the design is laudable, things are still a little difficult to find, and some new features don’t work as expected; for example, the fact that you can now reply to all the people in a tweet, but not just to the person who sent the tweet is a confusing misfire.
Most complaints related to the roll-out of the new Twitter. According to Twitter’s then-CEO, Evan Williams, the new Twitter was rolled out completely at random to users all over the world. Many of those who want it have no way of experiencing it yet until Twitter grants them access to the new interface.
So how are people reacting to New Twitter? Initially, the response was overwhelmingly positive, but as users have gotten to interact with the redesign and flaws in the interaction have come to the surface, the redesign has gotten mixed reviews.
Do you have the new twitter? What do you think? Is the redesign enough to make you switch from your third-party app? We want to know!
