Twitter has today debuted a new front page that sees the popular microblogging service receive a serious tart up and a strong embrace of search.
Biz Stone said in a post on the Twitter blog that the new front page was all about the new users: “Helping people access Twitter in more relevant and useful ways upon first introduction lowers the barrier to accessing the value Twitter has to offer and presents the service more consistently with how it has evolved.” (breathe Biz, breathe)
The new look is great, but it’s the embrace of search that many will notice. The front page now includes a list of trending topics by minute, day and week, and adds a search box front and center. Visitors can click on a search term, or type their own term, then are taken to a new search results screen that includes trending topics in the sidebar. Notably each search term comes with an explanatory note at the top of the results, for example Hells Kitchen includes the explanation “A reality television cooking competition.”
As much as I love the new look (and I don’t say that lightly) the move seems to deemphasize signing up new users. There’s no longer any explanation on what the service is, or why people should join on the front page; perhaps explanations aren’t needed any more due to Twitter’s popularity.
To see the new look Twitter, users have to log out of Twitter then visit the front page.
