The new design is modern and sleek, grouping together topics, categories and communities into easy-to-digest segments. Instantly allowing non logged in users to gain an insight into the benefits (and procrastinations) of being a fully logged in user.
It also makes that one, very important statement we mentioned above: you don’t have to tweet to use Twitter.
This is a quick and simple start to Twitter for those who who never had the time to build up users to follow, it breaks down walls and is more in touch with the idea of quick and easy that is now synonymous with Social Media. Twitter has often been criticised for a ‘too much noise’ problem, this is because, unlike Facebook, your timeline is still very much in real time. Now, this is a decent attempt at solving this issue, whilst maintaining their integrity.
This is all great stuff from the Micro Blogging giant. The design is clean and, with 18 main categories and up to 58 in the more granular options in the sidebar, users can easily find the areas that interest them the most.
In theory, there should be something for everybody here. Key categories range from Cute Animals (of course), to News Outlets, NBA Personalities, Celebrity Chefs, Reporters, Political Parties and beyond. It is broad, relevant and accessible.
Trouble at bay
However, when you take a step back from all this praise, and start to wonder how the uninitiated might seek to engage meaningfully with each of the categories, problems start to appear. One of the beauties of Twitter is that it is, to a huge degree, used by individuals. However, when you group together individuals into categories you can get seemingly disjointed and incoherent conversations. The current categories are based around personalities and people; Celebrity Chefs rather than Food & Chefs, Country Music Stars, rather than Country Music, NBA Players not NBA Teams. Wouldn’t we, as onlookers, prefer a mixture of the above?
For example, which of the following categories would make for a more interesting group of conversations to the casual observer; Food & Drink, Or Celebrity Chefs & Personalities? To decide this we need to know what the approximate content of the two groups would be. Option one is likely to be the latest restaurant openings, recipes, hints & tips and other food related goodies, all mixed in with a few celebrity chefs tweeting about their general life. In contrast, option 2 tells us that Guy Fieri is going to the Mighty Ducks Musical and that Mario Batali is friends with Gwyneth Paltrow (did I mention this is only in the US currently?).
Clearly I cannot speak for the masses (though I’d like to try), but I can hazard a guess that for most people, the first group is a far more enticing group than the second. It is important to remember, whilst reading this, that we are talking about users who are not familiar to Twitter, to its idiosyncrasies and strange etiquettes, but I’ll get away from this area lest I start ranting about manual retweets and the such.
However, it seems that the second option is the reality. It does not allow for the fact that these celebrities and personalities have lives beyond being endless advocates for their personal brand. This means Chefs tweeting about the NBA and NBA stars tweeting about food. To get back to the original point, how is that meant to encourage potential new users to register?! As a lover of Twitter this Irks me. Twitter does not have to be overwhelming, but this approach certainly makes it seem as such.
What’s next for Twitter?
As I have mentioned, there is so much to love here, if the guys and gals over at Twitter can refine this tool then you have to believe they are well on their way to capturing some of the lost 125,000,000. Beyond this, surely it shouldn’t just be a feature for non members. I want to be shown some Twitter love and be able to play with the new toy too!
I have always wondered about the ability to automate list creation based on the accounts I follow. At the moment the lists feature seems like an afterthought, tacked on like a donkey’s tail at a children’s party. The fact that it has not been designed with the user in mind annoys me, and it could be so powerful for the general user and marketers alike. An example of this is my personal account. I follow a whole mixture of users, roughly speaking, these can be assigned to the following categories: Advertising, Digital, Technology, Design, Rugby, Football, Skiing, Eating, Musicians and News Correspondents. Wouldn’t it be lovely to split up those without the hours needed to do it at the moment? Wouldn’t this just cut out the noise and let us concentrated on our specific interests of the moment. Then, when the moment takes, turn the hose back on and inundate ourselves in the random beauty of the standard Twitter feed!
With my JBi hat on we are not just talking about a more pleasurable commute, but about saving hours of client work that we put in when taking over a new Twitter account. Not only that but, with our own account it would be great to quickly and easily segment our competition (yes we do follow our peers!), digital marketing resources, creative resources and potential brands? At the moment this is something backlogged for a (very) rainy day!
This all feels like a bit of a rant at a feature that I have been wanting for a while now, so I’ll leave it there! As a big Twitter fan, I truly do hope that members will be given features that non members now have. Of course, we can all log out and use the categories, but that is not the point. Our loyalty deserves more than that.
A recap
All in all, we love the concept behind the new design. It looks great and certainly is a huge leap in the right direction in terms of engaging users who are otherwise unsure of how or why they would start using Twitter. It offers instant gratification, reducing the hassle of finding users to follow and banding together groups of people and topics in a manner that at first seems sensible and coherent. It even has even has a section for Cute Animals – how perfect is that?
The ultimate question is whether or not it will solve the problem of the current Home page? The astronomical bounce rate is killing Twitter and we have to believe that this is going to drive more users to register and therefore create more advertising revenue for Twitter. However, couldn’t they have taken this further? Couldn’t they have made it better still?
Unfortunately, we think the categories are too based on people, and as such do not offer what is suggested they might at first glance. If you are interested in knowing what all your favourite NBA stars are doing at any given moment, then perhaps this is perfect. However, if you are like me, this doesn’t quite cut it; why make it NBA Stars & Personalities when the reporters who write about the topic are of just as much, if not more interest. I certainly follow more Rugby & Football Journos than I do actual players.
In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for the rollout to the UK. It is a big move and one that takes them in the right direction for their goals. Just be pleased that I didn’t quote their whole corporate mission, even CFO Anthony Noto can’t say it without fluffing his lines!
“Reach the largest daily audience in the world by connecting everyone to their world via our information sharing and distribution platform products and be one of the top revenue generating Internet companies in the world.”
“I struggle to read it every time”
