In its effort to go completely mainstream, Twitter’s adopting the look and feel of the most mainstream platform out there. The new profile page design looks very much like a Facebook profile page, complete with a large background banner picture, the square profile picture moved to the left, and the outsized attention to visuals.
Users who sign up for Twitter today will get automatically get the new profile, but for the rest of the world, it’ll be rolled out first to only a select number of users (read:celebrities.)
Here’s what the redesign looks like for the Twitter page of First Lady Michelle Obama:
In addition to the new layout, Twitter is also adding some new functionality:
- Best Tweets: Tweets that have received more engagement will appear slightly larger, so your best content is easy to find.
- Pinned Tweet: Pin one of your Tweets to the top of your page, so it’s easy for your followers to see what you’re all about.
- Filtered Tweets: Now you can choose which timeline to view when checking out other profiles. Select from these options: Tweets, Tweets with photos/videos, or Tweets and replies.
As we’ve reported before, ever since it went public, Twitter is making a huge push to sign up new users, since its new user growth has been steadily dwindling. Common complaints from newbies have been that it’s difficult to get onboard, with Twitter’s confusing jargon and text-heavy platform. Unlike other platforms, Twitter usually requires an online buddy or guide to talk you through the process of sending your first tweet, adding followers and understanding hashtags. In order to make this process singularly easy, Twitter’s doing away with much of its unique quirks, like the “@” sign. In addition, by making itself look more like Facebook, it can get more people to stay by giving them a familiar interface and filling it with attractive imagery instead of the attention to text.
