The new Twitter redesign hasn’t rolled out to many people yet but we’ve been scouring the web to pull together a list of the most interesting features you’ll find when it arrives. Read on for the 10 new Twitter secrets you should watch out for…
1 What’s happening? The text box has changed
The new Twitter still has the big “What’s happening?” text box at the top of the page ready for you to splurge out your thoughts to the world but it’s got a little less cluttered. The “tweet” button only appears when you actually click to enter text, bringing the location information and character count along with it.
2 There’s full support for Flickr sets
Click a link pointing to a set of Flickr snaps and you’ll be able to see them in the new right hand panel in the new Twitter. You’ll get thumbnails and a swish little automatic slideshow at the bottom.
3 It’s now harder to hide behind pseudonyms
The new Twitter design shows not just your Twitter name but the real name from your Twitter profile. That should make it easier to know just who you’re talking to.
4 There’s keyboard shortcuts for super-speedy tweeting
Following Gmail’s lead, new Twitter introduces keyboard shortcuts. Hit f to favourite a tweet, r to reply, t to retweet, m to direct message and n to send a new tweet. Hitting ? will bring up the shortcut menu to give you a reminder.
5 Refreshing just got simpler. Full stop
Most useful of all the keyboard shortcuts is the ability to tap the full stop (“.”) key to update your tweets. If you’re used to getting your tweetstream automatically refreshed in Tweetdeck that might not seem so massive but if you’re used to constantly refreshing the Twitter homepage, it’ll be a real time saver.
6 Tweets are clearly labeled
Spotting retweets or tweets you’ve favourited is much easier in the new Twitter layout. Retweets get a nice green label in the upper corner and favourites get a yellow star. If you’re used to using Twitter for iPhone, it’ll look familiar.
7 You’ll get more Who To Follow recommendations
The somewhat controversial Who To Follow feature will be expanded in new Twitter with four recommendations on show rather than two. Twitter is apparently tweaking its algorithms to ensure that you don’t see the same people all the time. Is there anyway we could stop being told to follow David Milliband?
8 You can peek at conversations
Clicking on a tweet that’s a reply to another user will show the conversation in the right hand panel of new Twitter. Sadly, unlike Tweetdeck, new Twitter won’t show you threaded conversation yet, you’ll just get two tweets in the exchange.
9 Individual tweet pages now show media and retweets
If you land at a tweet that’s linked to, the new Twitter design will show photos or videos on the page along with who’s retweeted that pearl of wisdom.
10 You can scroll through tweets forever
Tapping the spacebar will scroll through your timeline on the new Twitter site and there’s infinite scroll so you can keep hopping back in time for as long as you like. That means you’ll be less likely to miss tweets but will also be a massive time waster.
What do you make of the new Twitter features? Can you see yourself heading the homepage to tweet more? And if you’ve got your hands on the new Twitter design now let us know if you’ve spotted any other interesting secrets.
[Hat tip to Techcrunch and Fast Company]
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