In its Engineers Blog, Twitter announced a series of adjustments aimed at making its site faster. According to the company, the updates that it made in September 2010, which became known as New Twitter, improved speed for a while, but the site’s consistent growth since that day has resulted in a slightly slower experience.
Among the adjustments is a shift in URL format, namely when related to a hashtag. No longer will the “#!” be included in the URL. When a user clicks a hashtag, it takes the site slightly longer to load under the old URL format. Removing the “#!” will help users enjoy Twitter faster than they did previously.
In general, a faster experience will keep people at the site longer, which could help social media marketing campaigns make a greater impact on their target audiences. Streamlining the site will avoid exits related to poor performance and allow users more time to share and interact with content on the site.
Throughout the website, Twitter’s engineers have made a number of minor tweaks that will make the site a more pleasurable tool for its users without shifting the overall experience too aggressively.
In recent weeks, Twitter has made other changes to its site to make the user experience more enjoyable without altering the site too much. Brafton recently highlighted new methods for recommending follows so that users see other accounts they’re most likely to want to engage.
