Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Twitter’s Gone Visual!


Okay, that’s a being just a little exaggerated. Twitter has made changes; they HAVE taken a step towards becoming more visual. 








The Today Show announced it on, yep, The Today Show! Let's assume they were one of the first to embrace this feature. Check out their NEW Twitter profile page:


Wow! Lots of photos. Twitter, are you trying to be Facebook? Not complaining! Actually, it's nice to see the photos. You know the old saying, “A picture is worth 1,000 words”? It’s true. And Twitter has so much restriction to it. It’s a step forward for them; a move towards becoming a bit more “alive”.

Twitter has become known as the place to catch to catch the news quickly (though Google’s pretty good at it too) thanks to trending topics. As soon as you see Lindsay Lohan’s name as a top trend, do your eyes roll and an “oh, no, what has she done now” pop into your head?

And now the latest news, rather limiting at 140 characters, can be visual for those users who tend to go directly to a tweep's profile page to catch up with their latest information. Users can now have a header photo! And of course, that photo can be changed from time to time, encouraging folks to drop by more often.

This feature will be on mobile devices as well; enjoy a more visual experience on your smartphone or tablet. You’ll still be able to add whatever you like to the background for a profile page. And there will be some additional changes rolled out however there's a new feature available right now via the design settings. 

Okay! I tried it. Here is the before:



Here is where you go under settings, design to make the change. There's a new option here, "Change header":

And here is the after:


Hmmm….the logo could use a bit of a faded out effect on it and the color of the copy should be changed. But I like it! And it can be changed to reflect some news or my mood! It’s almost like cover art for Facebook or Google+. And thinking of that, it’s a good idea to keep your look between all the different social networks somewhat consistent so that you’re projecting a similar brand image wherever a user may go and find you.

In case you are wondering, all my art and contact info is still on the left and right side. Whew. Another nice touch is all the latest photos on the left side from past tweets. And that's really where the news ties in nicely. Just click on one to enlarge it and the tweet associated with it will be directly underneath.

So, what do you think? 

David Bowie sang about changes in this live clip from 10 years ago (see below). For more info on positive changes, stop by and visit: Klout, the ModlandUSA websiteFacebookTwitter, and Google+ ...Thanks! 



2 comments:

Sue said...

I'm always up for a little change and thanks for the great overview. Now, will you just skip your little self over here and change my profile?

Sue
www.RebuildingWellness.com

Shannon Grissom said...

It's a step in the right direction...