Los Angeles — In an attempt to lure advertisers and audience alike, micro-blogging outfit Twitter on Tuesday proved that social networks’ aesthetics continue to become carbon copies of each other, rolling out a slew of changes that enable users to include a cover photo to their profile. The social network has also updated the user interface of its iPad app.
Twitter’s evolution continues and this morning CEO Dick Costolo appeared on the TODAY show to announce the platforms redesigned profiles pages. Now available on Twitter’s Web, iOS and Android mobile platforms, the new-look profile is reminiscent of page designs on rival social networks like Facebook and Google+. Twitter also said it had revamped its iPad app.
“You can make your presence on Twitter more meaningful. You can upload your header photo, which appears above your Tweets, to express yourself instantly, anywhere,” said Twitter on its blog.
Moving ahead, the website end will be witnessing some impressive changes with respect to user profile pages. For starters, the desktop app now includes an option to add a cover photo, signaling that Twitter is jumping on the bandwagon Facebook started when the social network introduced Timeline Covers. The company has introduced the ability to set “header images” just like the “cover photos” on Facebook. The new profile also moves the profile photo from an obscure corner on the left to dead center. Even the photo stream has been moved up to draw attention.
Hence, you will also notice from accounts like @RyanSeacrest, @TODAYShow, and @Twitter, which have already been updated with cover photos, that the profile photo sits in the middle of the image display. So expect users to get plenty creative with the new format, just like we saw with Timeline Covers at their launch.
Meanwhile, the rollout of the latest profiles for now is just optional, but ultimately, all profiles will follow suit and be upgraded to the new look. Twitter has also put a massive update into the iOS app, especially the one for iPad. According to the folks over at Twitter, the new app is rebuilt from scratch. The iPad app now allows the viewing of photos in full screen along with supporting the swipe gesture to go from one image to the next.
“When you tap tweets in the iPad app, they expand in your stream to show a photo or video or article summaries from major websites,” said Twitter. “For example, videos from TODAY website appear right within tweets, and people can view them in the tweet, in fullscreen or on the TODAY website.”
However, as you log into Twitter, you would not recognize any immediate changes, even though the update and option to add a cover photo is already available to everyone. To change your photo on Twitter’s desktop app, simply select the gear icon on the top right hand corner of the navigation bar, and select the “Edit Profile” option below your name. Then in the same location as where you would change your background image, select “Design” on the left panel navigation bar, and in the middle of the page scroll down to the section, “Customize Your Own.”
In addition, the option to change your cover image falls under the selection, “Change Header,” where you can select an image to add to your Twitter profile from your computer. Twitter recommends an image that is 1252 x 626 pixels and of a file size no larger than 5MB. You will also notice that the option to add a background image remains. Yes, now you can add up to three different types of images for your profile page: The background, cover photo, and profile photo.
As a matter of fact, during the TODAY Show segment, Costolo added that it has over 140 million users, and hosts 340 million tweets on a daily basis, but also that these updates are just the first of many “big changes” that the teams over at Twitter are going to be pushing in the coming future.