Twitter Updates Desktop Design

Get ready for better direct messaging, bookmarks and an explore page! Last week Twitter rolled out a new desktop design that adds a completely new navigation experience that is based on the best features from it’s mobile app.

With over 326 million active users – 80% of them via mobile – and 500 million tweets every day, it’s no surprise businesses are increasingly leveraging the power of Twitter to extend the message of their brand.

 

Does your Twitter feed look different? There’s a good reason.

The biggest and most noticeable changes to the new desktop experience is an updated color scheme and a newly-located navigation bar located to the left sidebar to contain bookmarks, lists, your profile and a new explore tab.

The explore tab, adopted from Twitter’s mobile app, will feature more live videos and personalized local trends where you can browse popular topics and find other recommendations.

The redesign also builds on this year’s most popular feature – Dark Mode – and now offers two more additional options for users.

Improvements Look More Like Twitter’s Mobile App

Another big change is for users who manage multiple accounts. The new left sidebar navigation makes it easier to switch quickly between different profiles without having to log in and log out – a feature that’s been available on the mobile app for years.

Twitter also borrowed a few more features from its mobile apps to improve the desktop experience, like the ‘sparkle’ button on the home bar that lets you switch between seeing the latest, chronologically-ordered tweets instead of top tweets.

The new design is now live for nearly all users and unlike earlier versions, will not provide an option to switch back to “legacy Twitter.”

The redesign comes after two years of planning, designing and user testing. The last design change was over seven years ago, making it difficult for the engineering team to issue any improvements to the old technology.

Twitter content shows up in millions of Google search results every day. Are you using it to boost your brand’s search engine rankings? Contact us today to ensure Google-featured tweets are within your grasp.

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Thomas Young

Thomas Young is the CEO and Founder of Intuitive Websites. He is a consultant, award winning Vistage speaker and author of Winning the Website War available on Amazon. Tom has helped thousands of companies succeed online and has over 20 years digital marketing experience.