A new, redesigned, re-engineered Twitter site has been launched, aiming to provide an "easier, faster and richer experience," according to the site's blog. The company has realized that although the 140-character constraint means that information is shared quickly and concisely, but that "life doesn't always fit into 140 characters or less."

The new design includes a cleaner timeline and offers more detail when you click on an individual Tweet, related to the author or subject: maybe other Tweets from them, or a map showing where it was sent from if geotagged. If you click on a username you can see a mini profile within the page, offering a bio and recent Tweets. There is also "infinite scroll," meaning that there is no more need to click "more" to view older Tweets. Twitter has partnered with YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, TwitPic, TwitVid, USTREAM, Etsy and others to make it easier to view embedded photos and videos directly on the site. It has been possible for some time to link to photos on Twitter via TwitPic.com, for example, but these changes will allow social networkers to share photos as simply as they already do on platforms such as Facebook.

Changes will be rolled out to all users over the next few weeks.

Nearly all news outlets now use Twitter not only to promote their stories, but also to look for new information and to cultivate a community of followers. The most important development in the redesigned site for news organisations is likely to be the ability to more effectively display photos and videos, as it will allow them to easily show off their multimedia work. However, as news outlets want people to click through to their pages rather than remaining on Twitter, they may be wary of how much content to display.

Source: Twitter