Your Twitter profile is about to get a new look. Calling the changes “a whole new you,” Twitter announced last week that it will be rolling out a fresh design and new features to user profile pages.
So, what are the new changes?
1. Profile Photo
Your current profile photo will be automatically resized to fit the new dimensions, but it is important to note that these dimensions have changed and if you plan to change your profile photo any time soon, you’ll want to make the most of the new size. The dimensions used to be 256 x 256 pixels and the new ones are 400 x 400 pixels. The larger photo gives your profile a distinct identity, and it sits on the left side – much like Facebook.
2. Cover Photo
Once again, taking a page out of the Facebook playbook, the cover photo on your Twitter profile page now takes a front seat. Before, the cover photo was never standout component of your Twitter profile, but you can now showcase your brand much more prominently. The dimensions for the new cover photo space are 1500 x 500 pixels. Also, on the old Twitter profile, the words of your bio used to be printed over the cover photo, limiting your choices for the type of photo you could use. That is no longer the case.
3. Photos/Videos
It’s no secret that photos and videos are top-notch content to share on social media. Twitter is taking steps to ensure that photos and videos will also become more central to its platform. You will see the tweets, following, followers, photos/videos, and favorites tabs are now right under the cover photo, making them easier to access. Notice the bigger font, making the overall look and feel more dynamic.
4. Favorites
While the ‘Favorites’ tab was always available on the old profile page, it was on the left hand side, at the bottom of the list. It now shows up prominently on the main navigation bar under the cover photo. It highlights how many favorites your content has.
5. Pinned Tweet
Do you have one awesome tweet that you want everybody to see? The new Twitter profile allows you to choose your favorite tweet and pin it to the top of your profile page. This means that if you have special tweet that was retweeted by a noteworthy person in your industry, you now have a way to easily show it off!
6. Followers/Following
The new Twitter profiles now display the “Following” or “Followers” under your cover photo. When you browse either list, Twitter provides you with card-style images that list the user, his/her profile and cover image, and a bio to give you an enhanced idea of who they are.
Over the coming weeks these new profiles will be available to everyone – on the desktop version that is. There is no news yet as to when the mobile version of the new Twitter will be available, but since 84 percent of active users access Twitter from their mobile devices, we can probably expect it soon.
What do you think of the new changes? We’d love to hear your feedback!
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