Twitter Profile Redesign (2014 Edition)

Twitter is changing its profile design again, and they’ll be rolling it out to users over the coming weeks/days. (Look like Facebook to anyone else? We thought so, too.) While not much of extreme importance has changed, you’ll want to be prepared for the new look. Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know.

Best Tweets

To make the most popular content stand out, Twitter will be enlarging tweets that get the most engagement, such as favorites and retweets (does this mean Ellen’s selfie would have taken up the entire page?). While the exact algorithm for how this works isn’t a known factor, this doesn’t really change much. Your most compelling and important content should be useful and/or helpful in order to drive engagement.

Also, keep in mind that your audience may not actually use Twitter to engage with your profile/read your tweets, which means, anyone who uses Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, etc. aren’t going to see this new feature unless they click through.

There’s one other downside to this feature – your most popular tweet may not necessarily be the best, from a brand and PR perspective. Luckily, Twitter provides a way to fix that…

Pinning Tweets

The most intriguing new feature looks to be the Pinned Tweet. Sharing what you’re all about should be covered in your bio, right? Sometimes though you will want to say a little more to your audience. Pinned Tweets will be pinned to the top of your page so users see what you’re on about. You’ll just choose which tweet you want to have stay at the top of your profile.

This will be handy for pinning your latest promotion by pinning to the top of your timeline, a la highlighting posts on Facebook. Very useful to show off something positive, especially if you’ve got a “best” tweet that isn’t so best. (See above.)

Cover and Profile Photos

Mama always said looks aren’t everything, but you will want to polish the look of your cover photo so that it’s not all stretchy. Twitter has been playing with their version of the cover photo for a couple of years trying to get it “right”. Time to hone your Photoshop skills again to touch up and enlarge your photo to fit 1500 x 500 pixels. You might want to check your profile photo when the update rolls out to you and ensure that it’s still working fine.

Kerry Washington has some editing to do, for instance, since Scandal is hidden. What kinda public relations pro hides their promotion? 😉

Other Features

There are definitely some other changes to be had in the new Twitter design, but we don’t foresee that they’ll have a huge impact on how to interact with others. If you’re interested in the full rundown of changes, check out Twitter’s blog post on the announcement!

Chel Wolverton
Account Manager, Marketing Technology

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