New Twitter

It seems only a few months ago that Twitter had a major re-design; now they're having another one.  (In fact it was probably over two years ago)

Watch the video



& read more about it here.

It's much richer, and much more visual.  I think it will also differentiate the mobile and desktop experiences a lot more.  It seems sensible, as Twitter changes its demographic.  Nowadays, as I've mentioned before, the trending topics are frequently dominated by teenage concerns, particularly (in the UK) One Direction.  I'm expecting this re-design to cause lots of grumbles from oldies like me, but the younger people will probably love it even more.

Update - here's an article that argues the same thing, but much better:  New York Times - A Twitter for my Sister

Extract:

"So why the big redesign that was unveiled on Thursday? The answer comes down to one thing: my sister.
As I wrote earlier this year, Twitter has had a problem trying to become relevant to new users who find it confusing. I came to this realization when I watched my sister try to use Twitter. She, along with dozens of other readers I have spoken with, simply didn’t understand how to use the service and found it incredibly confusing.
Specifically, non-techies find the @ and # symbols don’t make much sense. Twitter has known this, but couldn’t exactly remove them from the service, after all, these symbols have become the fundamentals of Twitter’s entire communications system. Removing these key characters would be like removing numbers from a telephone.
That’s where the new Twitter comes in. The company had to figure out a way to keep the site running for people who are more technologically adept and for those who understand and rely on the @ and # symbols to use the service. But, it also must make sense for those who think these characters are used as substitutes for swear words in comic strips."