Twitter Redesign Promotes Business Branding Pages

Twitter is to undergo a redesign which it claims will offer a “compelling destination” for companies who want to have dedicated “brand” pages, and a more simplified user interface.

The micro-blogging site first announced its intention to introduce brand pages earlier this year and brings it into line with other social networks which already offer company profiles.

Good for business

Twitter says that business profile pages will allow companies to make more of an impression on visitors through the use of large header logos, embedded media and the ability to push a tweet to the top of the timeline to promote content. The company hopes that the addition of business pages will open up new revenue streams with much of its income currently generated by its promoted tweets ad model.

“This Tweet helps you highlight your most engaging and important content and better connect with your target audience,” it said.

Facebook has offered companies the ability to create an online presence on its network for some time, while Google+ finally succumbed to pressure to allow businesses to create their own pages last month. Over half of British adults use social networking sites, but customer interaction can be a double-edged sword for some businesses with many disgruntled customers venting their frustration on Twitter with tweets that can damage brand reputation.

The Twitter facelift will incorporate a number of other new features including a simpler design which offers easy access to stats, follow suggestions and trending topics, while tweets now expand to show more information such as replies and retweets. New community features Connect and Discover are also part of the update.

Connect lets users see who has followed or mentioned them, and who has retweeted or favourited their tweet, while Discover offers follow suggestions which reflect the user’s interests and current location.

Follow this

Tweet and Follow buttons have been refreshed while the introduction of the new “#hashtag” button lets users instantly follow a topic. Twitter says that the new tab menu is the same on both the mobile and desktop versions of the site, reinforcing its aim of creating a consistent experience across all devices.

“We’ve simplified the design to make it easier than ever to follow what you care about, connect with others and discover something new,” commented Twitter on the changes.

The new look will be rolled out in the next few of weeks and will also be extended to its TweetDeck app, which it acquired in May for £25 million. Last year, Twitter redesigned its homepage so that tweets began to appear on its homepage while the expansion of the service means that 40 percent of tweets now come from mobile platforms.

The changes reflect a growing trend among social networks developing their communities. Google has recently made moves to integrate its Gmail and contacts service into Google+, while its decision to remove Google Reader’s sharing features in favour of closer ties with the social network sparked outrage among users.

Business social network LinkedIn drew inspiration from Facebook when it updated its group service, while it now allows users to track connections on both LinkedIn and Twitter.