PR

Twitter – Have you got it covered?

Yesterday Twitter unveiled a series of design updates across the platform, but the one everyone is talking about is the inclusion of a header photo  (á la Facebook’s cover photo!) for use on their mobile applications. According to Twitter Product Manager Sachin Agarwal’s, Because you have more to show blog post, the move has been designed to “make your Twitter presence more meaningful.” Whether that rings true or not remains to be seen.

What does the move mean for brands?

This move by Twitter offers brands the opportunity to be a little bit more creative with their Twitter pages, as well as enhance personality.

When Facebook released their cover photos, brands and consumers embraced the idea and this led to a multitude of clever, quirky designs. It’s likely that this trend will continue with Twitter, and over the next few weeks, maybe months, expect to see brands implement many different and imaginative ways of designing their Twitter header photo. As seen here on @FCBarcelona  and @RyanSeacrest’s twitter page.

Do photo headers work for Twitter though?

Although many have praised the inclusion of the header photo, inevitably, there are doubters.

Twitter has never been known for its picture or image content – it has always been about the tweets! Some critics have pointed out that the new header photo has made reading tweets more difficult by taking up more space and ultimately pushing tweets further down the page.

Another criticism has centred on how the move will affect brands with bespoke backgrounds (especially those that have invested money into the production of their Twitter background design!) The new header photo may not aesthetically fit with the rest of the background and may cause brands to reinvest or at least rethink the layout of their page.

What does the future hold?

Twitter’s move shows their intention to evolve their platform offering, and focus on images. Whether this is the correct way or not is yet to be seen. Is this this finished article? Probably not, and the twittersphere will no doubt make its opinion heard as users vote with their tweets.

 

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