OneTipADay - What Will You Learn Today?

Posted: 10 Aug 2011 10:38 PM PDT

Posted on One Tip A Day - What Will You Learn Today?

This is a guest post by Alvina Lopez. If you want to guest post on this site, then please read our guidelines here.

Regular tweeters take note: the classic twitter layout is no more. Twitter users now must make themselves familiar with the "new" layout (first introduced last September). Rest assured that the changes are meant to make tweeting more accessible and intuitive. Here's a brief overview of some of the fundamental changes with the new Twitter.

The Home page

The first changes you'll notice are on the Twitter home page. The right hand panel has been updated with a section that suggests Twitter users based on data from your personal profile. You can refresh this section to quickly sift through users to follow. This updated sidebar enables you to fully utilize your Twitter account without ever leaving the Home page. Every feature is available from the Home page, further simplifying an already spare social media tool. You can even view @Mentions and retweets from the Home page, or view the most popular trending topics at the moment.

Infinite Scroll

This feature marks perhaps the most significant change with new Twitter. Before when scrolling through your tweet feed you had to wait for older tweets to load or refresh the page. Now (internet connection permitting) you can scroll through your tweet feed indefinitely, going back in your feed history for as long as you wish. This new feature makes Twitter seem more real-time than ever, allowing you to view past and present content seamlessly.

Mini Twitter Profiles

On "old" Twitter, clicking a profile on your tweet feed would redirect you to that user's page. Now you can view a user's mini profile on the previously mentioned sidebar to the right of your tweet feed, leaving you free to simultaneously browse user's mini profiles and your tweet feed without being redirected to another page. A user's mini profile includes hard numbers on their tweets, followers, and those they're following. You can also view the user's bio and their previous few tweets.

View embedded content

The new Twitter also allows for easier viewing of embedded content such as shared videos and photos due to agreements the site made with media sites like flickr, etsy, vimeo, and youtube. This feature gives the new Twitter more social media muscle, enabling the user to view different types of content from one platform. Specifically, the embedded content gives Twitter more of a traditional blog feel while maintaining its appeal as a snappy social media tool.

Alvina Lopez is a freelance writer and blog junkie, who blogs for accredited online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: alvina.lopez @gmail.com.