Twitter’s
major new design includes brand pages
Twitter
has developed an entirely new version with simpler design and the ability to
connect much easier with others. In addition, Twitter has ramped up its
monetisation strategy with the creation of brand pages for advertisers.
The new design and range of capabilities –
including embeddable tweets – will manifest themselves across mobile and web.
The new design will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
TweetDeck
has also been glammed up to be consistent with the new shape of Twitter.
Four new tabs
The
design features four key areas that will dominate the shape of Twitter going
forward:
· ‘Home’,
where tweets from people you have chosen to follow will appear
· The
‘Connect Station’, for seeing who has followed or mentioned you and join the
conversation and act on interactions
·
‘Discover’ lets users tap into customised information streams based on location
and what is going on in the world
·
The ‘Me’ tab is a new profile section that allows users to develop a richer
profile than just the few words and picture that has existed to date
Monetisation
As
part of the redesign, Twitter has introduced enhanced profile or ‘brand’ pages that
in its own words allows marketers to create “an even more compelling destination
on Twitter for their brands.”
The
new brand pages allow advertisers to control the messages visitors see when
they visit the pages and gives marketers greater flexibility in terms of
highlighting particular content, such as expanding on particular promoted
tweets.
Photos
and videos can also be expanded on the brand pages.
Major
brands that have signed up to start using the new promoted pages include Intel,
Chevrolet, Coca-Cola, Dell, HP, JetBlue, McDonald's, Best Buy, Bing and
American Express.
Embeddable tweets
Twitter
has also come up with an interesting new way of bringing tweets to various
websites.
Embeddable
tweets are dynamic media that allows users to add a particular tweet to their
website by copying and pasting a line of code.
Readers
can then follow the author of that tweet, retweet, or favourite it without
leaving whatever page they are on.
Has Twitter become more like Facebook?
That
seems to be the conclusion that a lot of media are drawing and while there are
similarities in terms of greater sharing and profiling capabilities, I think
this is the culmination of a lot of work at Twitter to strike out on its own
and control its own destiny.
It
has looked inside itself, studied its capabilities and has come up with a
dynamic set of services that will only enhance its unique character and
offering.
It
is also addressing problems that, in my opinion, don’t help it to grow its user
base as fast as it would like. Facebook and LinkedIn sometime resemble rambling
country lanes compared to the high-speed, high-octane flow of information and
often users, myself included, struggle to get a sense of context, or join in
the conversation. Unless you have nothing else to do and are glued to your
screen, sometimes context flies out the window when you arrive at Twitter and
get a sense of direction.
Twitter
appears to be aware of this boundary and if anything is attempting to help
users make sense of the mass of information.
The
embeddable tweets function, however, is a bold strike in a new direction – the
power to just put a tweet on any web page and keep the dynamic ability to
favourite, retweet or follow the author. This is definitely something that will
make Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+, not to mention all the many other me-too
social sites, including the multitude of photo-sharing apps, sit up and pay
attention. In doing the embeddable tweets thing, Twitter has set a new
standard.
But
the bigger question is, will the monetisation strategy work? Judging by the
brands that have so far signed up, it looks like it will. Promoted tweets on
their own just aren’t enough and brands need to have a sense of control amid
the constantly buzzing traffic. Picture, if you will, Twitter’s brand pages
existing as highly visible traffic islands or service stations amid the ebb and
flow of tweets and conversations.
For
a long time, people have wondered how Twitter will monetise and drive its
audience to levels that will reach Facebook’s proportions – Twitter has 300m
users while Facebook is hurtling towards 1bn – and it’s likely Twitter has
found its answer.
How
will Twitter’s new features stack up against Facebook’s Timeline? I consider
this new set of capabilities a just-in-time intervention in that it modernises
Twitter for a dynamic new age and opens the door for an interesting opportunity
for app creators to brainstorm and bring apps into the Twitterverse rather than
just developing reader apps.
Simply
put, it’s a platform for the future.