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Twitter’s Brand New Landing Page – Gorgeous or Terrifying?

30 March 2010 | social-media | 7 Comments Twitter’s Brand New Landing Page – Gorgeous or Terrifying?

A new emphasis

Today, Twitter unveiled a new design for their homepage that they’re testing out, with an emphasis on dynamic content that highlights the information flow. Their last homepage redesign was a stagnant page that put a new emphasis on search, but this new homepage is more three dimensional and acts kind of like a taste test for non users that can peek in on what Twitter is like before they sign up.

twitter homepage

Here’s what it looks like in action (10 second video):

According to Twitter, “All of our recent changes embrace the notion that Twitter is not just for status updates anymore. It’s a network where information is exchanged and consumed at a rapid clip every second of the day. With so much being shared, we know that there’s something of value for everyone. People who internalize the value of Twitter understand the power of this simple medium. But it hasn’t been easy to make that value transparent or obvious for curious folks coming to Twitter for the first time.”

My assessment:

This is all well and good- data, value, buzz word, buzz word, blah, blah, blah. My feeling is that the new Twitter homepage is beautiful and it adheres to the theories of Web 2.0, but I think it’s so busy feeling with the rapid pace of updates and the scrolling trends that a new user who is timid (which let’s face it, is the majority) may become overwhelmed. Is this what Twitter’s like? Will I have 823493208 strangers yelling about Just Bieber when I log on? Am I supposed to know what trending topic “CLRN” means?

I think you’ll hear over the coming weeks that new users got scared and turned away. It’s already intimidating enough and it’s not typically my personality to be all Debbie Downer about things, but I think if Twitter did some concentrated focus groups on people not yet on Twitter, they’ll find this dynamic content to be too intimidating, despite its sexy, shiny, masterful, gorgeous design, it misses the point- to market to those not yet on Twitter, not inundate them.

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7 Comments for this entry

  • Dean
    March 30th, 2010 on 7:45 pm

    One word: Pedestrian.

  • Lani Rosales
    March 30th, 2010 on 8:06 pm

    From @KurtBradley11 on Twitter:

    “@laniar It’s a good write up. Pretty accurately covers my thoughts as well. It needs to be less forceful with the lingo.”

  • Marla Erwin
    March 31st, 2010 on 8:06 am

    Agreed. The trending topics tend to showcase the WORST of Twitter, or at least the most banal. If, as a new user, I saw this page all about Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers, I’d be outta there (as soon as I finished my scrolling-induced seizure).

    When I compare my timeline full of smart, witty people to something like http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23ijustwannaknowwhy, it really seems like two different services. Unfortunately this new page means that the people who find the Trending Topics appealing will be the ones signing up, and people looking for news and intelligent discussion will be turned off.

  • Greg Ackerman
    March 31st, 2010 on 8:08 am

    Thanks for the post Lani. Pretty much agree with what you’re saying, however, I understand that Twitter was trying to show a more DYNAMIC landing page than the previous dud. Think we both agree that the way they went about trying to achieve that goal was off.

    What I don’t understand is why Twitter doesn’t use video in it’s explanation of Twitter on the landing page. It might help new users to feel more comfortable if there was a friendly face guiding them through the mystery of Twitter at the outset. See Gowalla’s down ‘n dirty vid on THEIR landing page. Much clearer what they’re selling than Twitter.

    Another thing I’d like to know is the criteria for the algorithm they devised for the Top Tweets feature.

    Thanks again for publishing the post. Had my mind on all this since I opened the Twitter landing page earlier this am
    ~G

  • Lani Rosales
    March 31st, 2010 on 8:36 am

    @marlaerwin I definitely think it changes the dynamic, but ultimately it reveals the leadership a Twitter’s mindset: cater to celebs and the teeny boppers will come, who cares about the business world that adopted the tool and made it what it is?

    @g_ack even the simple Common Craft “Twitter in Plain English” video would suffice. Our 12 year old on film explaining it would be better than what they have. I can’t stand the celebrity worship, it’s like @ev met a few celebs, decided he’s one and now needs a sidewalk star in Hollywood. Playa, please.

  • Cathy Benavides
    March 31st, 2010 on 8:41 am

    Girl, I could not agree more. If Twitter wants to actually attract new users, they should ask those new users what they want. If a restaurant wants to start serving vegetarian dishes, they would surely talk to a few vegetarians before they throw some new dishes out there. I doubt that anyone in the Twitter office isn’t using Twitter so they need a fresh perspective. You should send them this article!

  • Lani Rosales
    March 31st, 2010 on 8:49 am

    @slavetofashion, GREAT observations.

    I’d send them this article, but they’ve proven over the years that they could give a crap less. They’re not interested in what the tech sector thinks, they’re going after the Anderson Coopers and the Oprahs of the world. Great idea for adoption, but they’ve forgotten that there’s a step AFTER adoption which is SUSTAINING a service… they’ve never emphasized that. They won’t fail, but the scenery will change and it’ll be more and more like AOL chat rooms from the 90s as the attitude shifts. Too bad.

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