Twitter might be trying to keep up with the Joneses of social media. The network teased a major profile redesign Tuesday that mirrors competitors like Facebook and Google Plus.
As reported by Mashable, the new profile page will feature a big picture housed in the upper left-hand corner and engulfed in a massive 1,500-pixel-wide cover photo. A horizontal menu bar hosts followers, tweets, photos and other info.
However, the most notable change: The new profile page uses large chunks of real estate to highlight photo and video tweets in Pinterest-like panels that vary in size. Twitter has declined to talk to any media about the preview.
The Verge explains, if implemented, this could be a drastic visual departure from its 140-character principles.
"What we do know is that Twitter is thinking about abandoning the text-based vertical stream layout that made it so famous — for profile pages, at least. The funny part is that Facebook recently ditched its mosaic-view Timelines in favor of vertical streams." (Via The Verge)
Mashable assistant features editor Matt Petronzio first spotted his overhauled profile page on Tuesday. He also noted the specific addition of a feature that's new to the average user.
"Although Petronzio isn't verified on the site, there's an option for the stream to show 'Tweets' and 'Tweets and replies' for every user — a feature typically reserved for those with the blue check mark." (Via Mashable)
In December, a source close to Twitter told Bloomberg News the company might make a user's popular posts more prominent instead of displaying the most recent tidbit.
As tweets are prioritized, it seems Twitter is eyeing a way to make its content more useful to its 241 million users.
"The company is … experimenting with showing content based on topics, which may help newer users understand the service better than they can with chronological displays." (Via Bloomberg)
This redesign test also comes days after Twitter introduced a few minor tweaks to its profile page, which has been made to better complement its mobile version.
Let's not forget, as we've seen before with Facebook, every major change can bring major backlash. CNET has the plea of one concerned tweeter.
"DEAR TWITTER: I love you bc you AREN'T like Facebook. Don't f*** that up. Love, Me." (Via Twitter / @handeebks)
A number of tech sites tried to calm any pitchfork-toting tweeters, reminding them Twitter is known to frequently beta test new features. So it's unclear if Tuesday's test will go live or get canned by the Twitter team.
