Twitter gets a new look – cleaner interface, less confusing user experience and faster navigation

A makeover of Twitter has been announced that should make the social media platform – “lighter, faster and easier to use,” the firm said in a release on 16 June (Friday).

The changes have been made in response to feedback from Twitter’s 313 million monthly active users on what they like and didn’t like.

The refreshed product and interface will be rolled out in the “coming days”, the release said.

In a blogpost, the firm’s vice president of user research and design, Grace Kim said: “Last year, we told you exactly who we are and refreshed our brand. Today, with lots of feedback and ideas from you, we’re refreshing our product too and making it feel lighter, faster, and easier to use.”

Here are some of the changes rolling out across twitter.com, Twitter for iOS, Twitter for Android, TweetDeck, and Twitter Lite “over the coming days and weeks”, the firm said.

Here’s what you’ll see:

• Profile, additional accounts, settings, and privacy – all in one place. A new side navigation menu and fewer tabs at the bottom of the app mean less clutter and easier browsing. Android users said they liked this change when it was implemented last year. And, iOS users will see this new feature soon.
• Links to articles and websites will open in Safari’s viewer in the Twitter app so you can easily access accounts on websites you’re already signed into.
• Refined typography to make it more consistent, and added bolder headlines to make it easier to focus on what’s happening. Also, rounded profile photos make it clearer to see what’s being said and who’s saying it.
• More intuitive icons make it easier to engage especially if you’re coming to Twitter for the first time. For example, people thought the reply icon which is an arrow meant delete or go back to a previous page. This will be switched to a more universal speech bubble symbol.
• Tweets will update instantly with reply, Retweet, and like counts so you can see conversations as they’re happening – live. This feature will not be available on Twitter.com and Twitter Lite.