WHAT STAYED?

Value Proposition: Twitter kept one if it’s focal points focusing on the value prop to the potential user, but evolved it to be broad reaching when it comes to need-states of potential new users. They’re definitely trying harder to sell Twitter to skeptical consumers.

Search: The search feature is still there, but has been moved down on the page to bring more focus to the value proposition to new users. Searching comes after the value proposition, prompting potential new users to find out what Twitter has to offer for themselves.

Who’s Here: Highlighted accounts have been lowered, but expanded to show more breadth, though it’s no longer “who’s here” since Twitter hosts accounts for more than just people.

Sign Up: Sign up stayed, but evolved. Now Twitter can get new users without asking them to click through to another page and go through the process of creating a handle. This is an obvious indication that the process of finding an available handle has been inhibiting their growth.

WHAT’S GONE?

Trending Topics: Bye bye trending topics! Though they’re not eliminated from the platform all together, they’re no longer being used to show what’s going on to potential new users… maybe to make Twitter’s value and content less narrowly focused?

Top Tweets: This looks like another way for Twitter to make the platform seems more adaptable to user needs by eliminating any content that may skew a new users view of what the platform has to offer.

Discover Twitter: The tutorial video is gone. It’s probably safe to assume that anyone going to twitter.com is familiar with what it is, and if they’re not, Twitter wants them to find out for themselves.

WHATS NEW?

The World: Twitter obviously wants to showcase the fact that they connect you to news and updates from around the world. What better way to do that than to put a big map of the world in the background?

The Colors: Twitter has abandoned their classic robin’s egg blue color for a less vibrant shade of grey/blue with white/silver accent colors. Why the color changes? Probably to make Twitter look more sophisticated.

WHY THE NEW LOOK?

For a long time people have been skeptical about using Twitter. They don’t see the value over Facebook and don’t feel like they have enough to say on Twitter that warrants an account. Twitter has attacked that notion head-on by changing its communication to focus on keeping up with updates from friends, experts, celebrities, brands and news outlets while also eliminating any content that would give a new user a myopic view of what Twitter has to offer them.

The old Twitter home page

The new Twitter home page

I’ll admit that I’m not the biggest fan of change. Whenever Facebook rolls out a new design, I’m forced to pretend it doesn’t bother me, because come on, it’s JUST Facebook. Still, I’m not going to deny that Facebook is a significant part of my life, both socially and professionally, so when people start messing with something I’ve grown to know and love, it’s going to spark some serious turmoil.

Let’s take a minute to review the most recent redesign introduced last Friday.

What actually changed? You can now switch between two views, News Feed & Live Feed. Your News Feed is essentially what used to be in the Highlight Section, featuring select pieces of information based on your own/friend’s activity (measured by most commented posts, who you interact with the most, etc).

The Live Feed is a minute-by-minute rundown off all those annoying little things you thought you got away from with the old Facebook (i.e.: new friend updates, events RSVPs, recently added groups/ fan pages, etc). Both the News Feed & Live Feed can be customized to only show that updates you want to see.

Another noticeable change is the Suggestions tab. Rather than just suggesting groups/friends that you may enjoy, Facebook now encourages you to reconnect with users you have not interacted with for a while. This is by far my least favorite change of the redesign as I think it comes of slightly rude (don’t tell me what to do, Facebook) and I’m not alone on this one.

This redesign is getting both positive and negative feedback from users. Facebook explains that they hope the changes will make Facbeook a more valuable experience for you. In the end, this isn’t the last redesign we’ll see and it isn’t the first redesign to get negative feedback.

And let’s be honest. Even with all the negative feedback that first came about when the News Feed first launched, who can really remember what it was like without it? Maybe the ever-so-impolite suggestions tab really will work in connecting me with an old flame that I hadn’t thought about in years. Just one question: will I have to invite Zuckerberg to the wedding?