At a press conference, Twitter just unveiled their new website layout—a double-paned interface that resembles Twitter’s own iPad app. One of the major points at the press conference was that they’re trying to convince people that you don’t have to post on Twitter to use Twitter—you can use it as an RSS news reader, for instance. It appears that this new layout is an attempt to make the main page “stickier” by allowing links and videos to expand on the right-hand pane, so Twitter users won’t have to click away and leave the Twitter.com home page to access content. It looks like the left-hand pane retains the basic Twitter layout: A single gutter, with most recent posts at the top.

They’ll be rolling out this new layout over the next few weeks, but from here it looks like a smart update to the service. As I said in my review of Twitter, the appealing thing about Twitter is that it is ridiculously simple to use. These changes don’t seem to make it any more complex and, in fact, I think it’s possible that these new changes, along with their new who-to-follow recommendations, will make Twitter into a site that I’ll want to keep open in a tab on my browser all the time. The goal, I think, is to make Twitter.com as much of a user destination as Facebook.com. This update looks like a good start in that direction.

10 replies on “Twitter Gets a Facelift”

  6. @4: Twittering is an art form. Most people suck at it, some will rise to the top to become haiku-like masters of the tweet. Dare I type, in this age of infomania, isn’t a service that draws attention to those best able to concisely cut through the bullshit, doing a social good?

  7. They’re really patting themselves on the back for integrating existing peripheral components and using that worthless 40% of unused workspace to do it.

    I can’t speak for anyone else but I use it less and less and root for it to fail.

    I understand it’s upside but the way most people use it to merely to broadcast the banal evil of their stupid lives fucks with my soul should I spend much time there.

    And that’s putting it nicely. I’ve sincerely never seen so much abject stupidity in text.

  9. Yes, there are plenty of reasons to not like Twitter it you want, and I certainly don’t have the time for it like I have other Internet options (like blog commenting), but it’s not a fixie bike or the KFC Double Down or some other niche thing to hate on. It’s not going anywhere, and frankly, the whole “it doesn’t matter; it’ll be gone soon” makes you look just ignorant (as josh’s graphs prove)

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