Technology-Enabled Business Solutions

If you primarily use a Twitter dashboard application such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck, you might have missed the major changes that Twitter rolled-out recently. The popular micro-blogging site’s updated look and new features include changes to the newsfeed, a new “Connect” section and an improved “Discover” feature. In addition to these changes, Twitter also announced the introduction of new brand pages.

For those incorporating Twitter as part of their business’ digital strategy, these Twitter changes raise a number of questions:

Question #1: Why Were the Changes Made?

Recently, Twitter announced the new version of Twitter on their blog and explained the “simplified” design was created to make it easier for users to follow what they “care about, connect with others and discover something new.

Though improved functionality certainly played a role in the new design, as Mashable points out in their article “The New Twitter: Everything You Need to Know,” these changes were also most likely made to accommodate new ways of generating revenue. This isn’t the first time Twitter has made changes to accommodate ads, and this redesign provides a number of additional opportunities to drive users towards sponsors.

Question #2: What Changes are Already Visible?

Some of the changes are easy to see including changes to the top navigation bar and overall layout of the platform.  

Aside from some of the more obvious updates, the latest version of Twitter also boasts some slightly unexpected features including:

• The ability to expand tweets within the stream to view videos and photos.
• The addition of usernames, not just handles, to the Twitter stream.
• The addition of a tag indicating status if a user is following you, which appears on your follower’s account page next to his or her handle. 

While these changes provide some new opportunities, the addition of Twitter brand pages is where we expect to see the biggest Twitter changes.

Question #3: What do I Need to Know about Brand Pages?

Marketers are buzzing about new brand pages, because they provide new ways to present their brand’s message to Twitter users. Brand pages include a number of special features including:

• The ability to customize a header
• The ability to auto-expand content that has been embedded in tweets
• The option to choose what tweet appears at the top of their stream—even if that tweet is not the most recent.
• The option to separate @ replies and mentions

Want to bump up your company’s presence on Twitter using brand pages? Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait. As of right now, the branded pages are only available to a select number of partners and Twitter advertisers.

SOUND OFF: Is Twitter part of your social media strategy? What do you think about the changes to Twitter? Does the new Twitter provide great new opportunities or were the revisions just a bunch of unnecessary changes?