HOLY CRAPSICLES BATMAN!!! This afternoon, I totally got the new twitter layout ... SEEEEEEEEEE!!!
Yeah it's pretty rad. Just for a frame of reference, I just so happened to have my old twitter screen up on my other macbook pro, so I screenshot it as a final bow of respect.
Yeah ... big friggen difference.
Bottom line about #NewTwitter is that it is more idiot friendly.
For real, I know the smart people have been on it for a while, as we understood - gee, knowing what people are thinking at anytime of the day and in real time might be kinda a valuable thing to know, and figure out how to make work. We JUMPED on twitter - but we're the exception, not the rule. Let's face it nerds, twitter has yet to establish value with the so-called normies. This new version of twitter is a pretty rad way to get people more comfortable with the platform. We all learned how to make twitter sing by using third party apps. How did we all hear about those third party apps? Through our other nerdy friends. The normies of this world, just went to twitter.com - saw the platform, and said wtf?! I don't get it. This is stupid! Hating twitter all of the sudden became the new cool, but all because of the ego. The vast majority of the public didn't understand it, they felt stupid, feeling stupid leads to a bruised ego ... bruised egos are at the precipice of declarations of war - and war is what the people declared. I've asked HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of people that don't use twitter why? And the NUMBERRRR ONE ANSWER I GOT OVER AND OVER was: "I just don't get it." New twitter will help you get it faster.
It's overall a lot sleeker, and prettier. My new layout doesn't pop up the multimedia content in the right hand column like that pretty little google-apple-esque vid explained ... but at this point I kinda don't care.
There is definitely a greater emphasis on search, so it looks like I won't have to tell any more clients about search.twitter - as it will be a lot more intuitive to just log in to twitter and click up at the top versus telling them to go to the right hand side and scroll half way down.
I am curious though as to how they are going to monetize it. The new wider layouts are def more ad friendly, but what would twitter even charge for an ad on our twitter pages?? It's not like Facebook where I browse back and forth - I literally have twitter open all day. For reals, multiple computers ... all day, every day. So what is that worth to someone? Is it with each refresh a new ad will have to populate? With each @reply? What? It'll definitely be groundbreaking how they explain their monetization and ad impressions. Honestly, I think twitter is priceless. I'm not just saying it because I drink the kool-aid from the people who make it, but twitter is literally one of man-kinds greatest inventions. Dude, I literally launched a nerdy little blog that changed my effin life from this thing. I put hashtags in each post so that when people re-tweet it, it gets populated in the hashtag searches further exposing it to more people outside of said re-tweeters network. Twitter is ... ahhhh!!!!! Heaven sent!!! Anyway, sorry - nerd side track ...
For social media "experts, ninjas, and one eyed monkeys" ... you have to change your client's branding. I always had the full 1200px layout, but for those that had the whole one column thingie majiggie - you gotta change it. I'd honestly just do the full screen page layout. The entire right hand column is relatively transparent. Focus more on colors for reflecting your clients brand versus a busy background with titles and what not - and I'm sure they'll be happy. But overall - you're kinda screwed in that regard with new twitter.
And oh yeah, new twitter isn't going after Facebook at all. They aren't even remotely close to going after Facebook. Facebook is going after google, and twitter was just trying to compete with the third party apps who have monetized it faster than the actual creators of the platform have. I am very impressed overall with new twitter. It is a lot sleeker, prettier, and overall more intuitive to the end user. I'm pretty stoked!! And don't worry if you haven't gotten it yet, they're rolling it out over the next month or so. So yours is just around the corner!
PS. If you have the new layout and want to add your feedback, send me a post and ill put it up on the site! jenfriel@talknerdytomelover.com
Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 4:58PM
