On its official blog, Twitter detailed a new profile layout rolling out to users in the next few weeks. The adjustment focuses even further on the visual element of brand and profile pages, with Twitter taking a page from Facebook’s book in adding a large spot for an image atop the new design. For marketers, the visual side of their social media marketing and overall branding will receive a lift from the new layout.
During an appearance on the Today Show, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said user and marketer feedback inspired most of the changes. While holding true to the 140-character limit it’s used since its launch, Twitter has made consistent improvements to the layout of its pages to give users more options for visual content. Costolo said the most recent update aims to help people “bring more of their personality to profile pages,” and the change lets brand pages show followers more about their companies.
As part of the announcement, Twitter partnered with the Today Show to unveil the new formats. The show’s hosts and personalities, Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker and Ryan Seacrest all received the new profiles, as did the Today Show’s official Twitter account.
According to Sachin Agarwal, Twitter product manager, the company is also focused on improving its profile pages on mobile devices. Like the layout on desktops and laptops, mobile users will receive the visual improvements as well. Twitter apps for iOS and Android-powered handsets will start to see the update soon.
Unifying the experience across all devices offers a more consistent experience that Twitter has worked aggressively to achieve in recent months.
Brafton highlighted Twitter’s latest efforts to ensure the same experience across apps and devices, as the company has started the process of removing third-party photo services from its official apps. Instagram’s 80 million users will still be able to share images on the microblogging site, as will users of apps that integrate with Twitter.com. However, any smartphone owner that tweets from an official Twitter app will have to share images using Twitter’s photo-sharing tool.
