Yesterday, we talked a little about how and why you need to consider redesigning your website, be it for startup or an established enterprise. The whole idea was born out of the observation of last few months of web.

Our biggest social networks, Twitter and Facebook, are determined to register their presence as a mobile-first, visual-oriented networks.

We like to speculate and understand not only the change that happens in the UI Design, but also the thought behind it.

So to begin with, the most obvious redesign change was Twitter’s User Profile Design roll out. Naturally Twitter, by intent and nature, is more suited to be a mobile first social network. The very idea of Twitter is to instantly express a short burst of thought, wit or brevity on the go.
We’ve talked in detail about Twitter’s Redesign here so you can read that before hand.

In addition, Twitter has been testing new designs and new features for its iOS 7 app.
What are the differences that this new update introduces?

1. User Profile

Contrary to previous designs where the User profile is dominated by the cover photo and user bio accessible with a left swipe, the new update places the Profile picture and Bio in same space on the left hand side of the screen while the cover photo is placed at the top in a compressed dimension.

A major change in user behavior with this is the instant access to the user bio by eliminating the addition swipe required to access it previous.

2. Tweet’s visibility

Twitter app for iOS7 for now shows the number of tweets a user has tweeted. The user has to click on this slide to then access the tweets.

However, the new update enables user to see the tweets directly beneath the bio, instead of having to go through an additional tap. Naturally this being a partial roll out, since a lot of users are still seeing the number of tweets posted, Twitter is taking its time with this idea.

The obvious implication is that tweets being the core product, Twitter intends to make its app more consumption oriented and shareable.

3. New tabs under Twitter Bio.

Twitter has modified the look to resemble the web profile look for the users. Three tabs (Number of Tweets, Photos and Favorites) are now readily accessible right under the profile bio.

The ease of access greatly allows the user to get to know any individual better through their profile. Naturally another tactic by Twitter to increase the shareability and accessibility of tweets and user’s data. This greatly benefits the user over the current design where it can be a bit cumbersome to access the tweets, favorites and photos of a profile with additional taps required.

Overall, Twitter seems to be focused towards being more user-friendly and mainstream rather than catering specifically to early adopters and tech-savvy users.

Additionally, Twitter rolled out a new update last week that allows users to tag up to 10 people in their photos without running out on the precious character limit. Not only this feature enables focus on visual content but also increases shareability for users.

As Twitter brings focus towards visual content into what was previously a text-heavy interface, it allows its users to be able to access the content it wants to emphasize and make sharing a marvelous experience across the mobile UI interfaces.

Stay tuned for updates.

Vinfotech is a web design and development firm based in San Francisco and India. We specialize in crafting niche social network solutions for startups as well as enterprises. If you are in need a web development partner who understands your needs, give us a call.

Attribution: Thanks to Elsy Betters for the well articulated article on new Twitter iOS Design