Twitter Plans To Update Main Page, and Twitter 101

[JohnnyV]

Is anyone else suffering from Twitter exhaustion? I honestly can't turn the TV on, or even listen to the radio without hearing about what's happening on Twitter. Yes, it's here to stay but it doesn't mean Twitter is the perfect social platform by any means.

It is being reported on the D: All Things Digital blog that Twitter will be rolling out some changes next week, their homepage specifically. Here are some of the specific changes you can expect to find on Twitter's main page:

"People arriving at the new main homepage will be greeted by a search box, information on Twitter trends and a panoply of more specific information about how they can use Twitter."

On the same blog, we get some insight behind the changes from Twitter's own Biz Stone. He believes that many of the activity problems that Twitter faces (only 10% of it's users make 90% of the tweets) is caused by the fact that when people start their accounts they don't grasp what the service is about.

I think it's a novel concept, because I'll be honest in saying I had no idea what Twitter was when I first used it. My first thought was -- why is updating, and keeping up with others at 140 characters/tweet a good thing?

To coincide with the home page redesign, Twitter has released a tutorial called Twitter 101. Inside there are hints/tips on how to get started using the site. I especially like Twitter's answer to the question -- What is Twitter?

"Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. From local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on Twitter."

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What was your experience like when you first used Twitter? Have you just started an account and are confused about what it's used for?

[thorfjalar]

I personally havent tried twitter, I'd probably do if I was trying to promote myself or something I was selling or worked for. I imagine Twitter would make me tired in the same way as Facobook does, the constant flood of information just wears me out.

[designer714]

I personally don't care to hear about some celeb's every action. Why do they have so much time on their hands? Don't they interact with real humans? But as a marketing tool I know I have to have my clients use it, only because its the buzz of the moment. Still trying to figure out how though, without spending hours of time tweeting 140 characters of fluff, plus the porn and spam followers are horrible. I know you can block, but it's a pain because you can't tell who they are until you click on their profile which just send even more....hopefully they will work hard on finding a solution to that.