14 DAY TRIAL // As founder Biz Stone revealed last week, Twitter has gotten a new homepage, a major redesign and a change of direction over the old one. The new landing page for users who are new or aren't logged in to the service will provide much more information and actual functionality with the focus on content. The main features are the search section, which will allow everyone to enter a search, and the trending topics section, listed in real time but also by day and by week.
“Helping people access Twitter in more relevant and useful ways upon first introduction lowers the barrier to accessing the value Twitter has to offer and presents the service more consistently with how it has evolved. Twitter began as a rudimentary social tool based on the concept of status messages but together with those who use it every day, the service has taught us what it wants to be,” Twitter founder and public voice, Biz Stone, wrote. “Twitter has moved from simple social networking into a new kind of communication and a valuable source of timely information.”
Twitter has evolved over time both in features and in scope. And now that the world and its creators have a clearer view of what the service is, or rather what it is being used for, the new vision is stated clearly in the redesigned homepage. Gone is the “what are you doing?” mantra, having been replaced with “Share and discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world,” which pretty much says it all.
Search is one of the most important components of the service so it's no surprise that there is now a search box front and center. The search result page also follows the design of the homepage, with a set of darker blues that are easier on the eye. Also in keeping with the real-time theme are the trending topics, which are the other major component of the redesign and are split into three time lines, with the real-time results on top followed by the trending topics for the day and the week. Clicking on one will bring up the results from that topic but also a short description apparently powered by the third-party service “What The Trend?”
All of the changes are only for new users, with the rest of the site staying the same, apart from small tweaks like the use of “tweets” instead of “updates.” The new homepage is designed to attract newcomers who may not yet be convinced by Twitter's capabilities. Even though the service is still getting more users and is coming from a very strong growth in the last months, the owners want it to become much larger and are focusing on attracting even more registered users with the new design but also with a new site they set up for businesses last week.
