Recently I had some time to get accustomed to the redesigned look, feel, and functionality. There are good things and bad things about the upgrade. In this post I'll show you around the new Interface. I'll also tell you about problems I encountered in the redesigned Twitter.
A word about the theme in the screens shown below. I borrowed and recreated this design from Colour Lovers' Themeleon. It's an application that is supposed to work with Twitter to add a theme to your page. Unfortunately, after much time spent designing my theme, the application would not save it to my Twitter account. I kept receiving error messages, so I had to recreate it using Twitter's design page, instead.
A Brief Tour
They've expanded the page to take advantage of all of the real estate your monitor has to offer. Now, the sidebar holds more information. This, in my opinion, was a good move. It may be uncomfortable at first, to lose some of your background, but I think you'll find the change makes sense.They've moved some menu items around, and a short test drive will put you back in the groove in no time. For example, Messages are in the Top Navigation bar instead of next to @Mentions in the sidebar, like it was before. What I used to call my "Twitter Feed" is apparently called the Timeline. This is where you see all of your Tweets and the Tweets from those you follow, in real-time.
If you are like me, you want to see your Tweet displaying in the recipient's #trend or @mention as soon as you have tweeted it. You use Search to display your Tweet as they would see it in their timeline or @mentions. The brilliance and elegance of Twitter is that it is simply a text-based search and filter interface. That's why I don't understand the decision-making around the new filter that automatically happens (default) after a Search. Let me explain.
The brilliance and elegance of Twitter is that it is simply a text-based search and filter interface. That's why I don't understand the decision-making around the new filter that automatically happens on default after a Search.
In the first and previous Twitter interface All Tweets displayed on default. Later, they added that annoying, but understandable feature that made it so Retweeted or Favorited Tweets would display first, on top. This rarely amounted to no more than 4 Tweets staying on top, so it was okay. We could work around that by scrolling down. But now, they have just Top Tweets showing on default when you Search. Strangely, there are many Top Tweets displaying with no rhyme or reason.
So when you search for your Tweet it appears to have been lost. Twitter claims Top Tweets are driven or determined by Retweets and items being marked as Favorites. I've performed many tests, and at the time of this writing, it is still random, and not affected by those factors. So, why do certain Tweets appear as Top Tweets? It's currently a mystery. Maybe Twitter went Live too soon, which is always a temptation for developers. They may have not coded these features properly at time of roll out. Or, something's amiss. (see Updates below.)
If your Tweet doesn't display in Top Tweets, welcome to the club. To display All Tweets, so you can see yours too, select All from the drop down menu if it has not been disabled. Some pages work correctly and some don't.
I was able to find a work around so that the Tweet displays even if the All/Top dropdown menu has been disabled. Most users won't try it and use it, unfortunately. I found out just by chance. I won't go into detail here lest the Twitter programmers change that too.
What's Wrong With Twitter's Redesign
I've spent years working in groups of Programmers to develop user-friendly Software interfaces. So, the thing that bothers me is, what if people don't notice that drop down selection and assume All Tweets are displaying when they Search? The drop down menu isn't very prominent and may be missed by many Twitter users. It took me quite some time to see that drop down and to figure out why my Tweets weren't displaying. Others will have the same problem.If users aren't made aware of this feature, your intended audience or recipient never sees your Tweet and never even knows you tweeted it. So, what's the point of tweeting at all, if the world cannot see it? This undermines the very goal of developing the software in the first place.
Besides the unfriendly usability of this feature, Twitter is used by many for Political Activism. There are some who would prefer critical or controversial Tweets never show up on Twitter for the whole world to see. The chance of even half of the Twitter users not seeing that new automatic filter is pretty good. Problem solved if you want to hide Tweets addressed to you. All is well if there are Tweets you don't want the world to see.
Anyone who thinks Twitter developers have not been approached or tempted to "lock this down" for powerful people isn't living in the real world. So, I'll keep checking back to see if Twitter corrects this feature and starts playing fair.
UPDATE: During the week of October 10th I noticed the All or Top dropdown menu had been disabled on most screens. This means only Tweets they choose display in any feed, whether your timeline or a search result. It still has nothing to do with Favoriting or Retweeting an item.
UPDATE: On October 12, 2011 I learned that JP Morgan Chase made a "deal" with Twitter back in February. This may account for the suppression of a top trending topic: #OccupyWallStreet #OWS #Occupy and others challenging the current financial structure and system that allows America to have more income inequality than Iran or China.
UPDATE: On October 26, 2011 I tested out the Twitter app Themeleon and it works great now.
In the next Blog post, I will show you some things I like about new Twitter.
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