Twitter.com Gets an Information Portal Redesign

Nobody can leave well enough alone these days. Hot on the heels of YouTube getting a mobile redesign, Twitter has done the same thing, overhauling their main site in a bid to attract new followers. The result? The Twitter main page now looks like every other website on the Internet.

Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but if you go to Twitter.com and you aren’t signed in you’ll see an information portal that, if your Internet use is varied and frequent, will no doubt look familiar. Pictured above, little boxes direct you to different topics, such as Pop Artists, the ever-popular Cute Animals, and the oddly specific High-End Fashion Labels. Clicking one of the boxes will take you to a list of Tweeters that meet that criteria. Twitter is trying to sell itself as a way to keep up with the latest happenings around the world, and while it may be just that, chances are that if you haven’t got into Twitter at this point or are still unsure of what it is, it’s just not for you.

Of course, if you already have a Twitter account then none of this matters, because you’ll never see this page. It’s actually pretty confusing in that regard, because Twitter is suggesting people for you to follow, but as far as I can tell once you log in you can never access these suggestions again. Unless I’m missing something, you’d have to manually write down the appealing followers you come across so that you can find them again once you’ve signed up for an account. It’s bizarre, but I think it’s meant more to convey “look what kind of stuff you find” rather than “follow these specific people.” Though what if you did want to follow those specific people?

More importantly, how can newcomers wrap their heads around Twitter when the folks at Twitter can barely wrap their heads around Twitter?