In an appearance Tuesday on TODAY, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo revealed a
new look for Twitter's profile pages. The fresh take won't just be seen
on twitter.com, either, but will be visible on mobile apps as well,
including Twitter's all-new, totally rebuilt iPad app.
What's the
biggest change? There's now a huge header image that runs across the
top, sort of like the banner image that Facebook users have on their
timelines. The page itself has been reoriented to play up other visuals
as well: Your avatar is no longer tucked in the corner, but will display
front and center. The photo stream, too, has been moved up, and will
now be accessible on the apps.
The rollout of the new profile pages has already begun, so you should
be able to opt-in now by going to your Twitter page. Eventually, all
users will have to switch over to the new look. That won't be enforced
immediately, however, but it could potentially take place in the coming
months.
That new iPad app
The folks at
Twitter are especially excited about the new iPad app, because now
you'll be able to "view photos in fullscreen and swipe through them
really easily," said the company in a statement to TODAY.
The iPad
app isn't just a cosmetic upgrade either: "We've rebuilt it from
scratch," said Twitter. The goal was to provide an experience similar to
that of the increasingly feature-rich twitter.com, and of the Android
and iPhone apps.
"When you tap tweets in the iPad app, they expand
in your stream to show a photo or video or article summaries from major
websites," said Twitter. "For example, videos from TODAY website appear
right within tweets, and people can view them in the tweet, in
fullscreen or on the TODAY website."
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