Twitter is not a social network, yet. Twitter is certainly participatory online media, but it works more like an information network instead of a destination where users can engage in apps, view entertainment media and hold conversations for hours. On Twitter people read tweets, leave a comment, and leave. Twitter execs have announced that this all about to change as of tonight.
Twitter is rolling out a new web interface that would make the social media site more like Facebook. The micro-blogging service has partnered with several companies to boost their multimedia efforts. Twitter’s new plan integrates multimedia into the stream. Users will no longer have to go off-site to view photos, watch YouTube videos, or access live streaming content. With the new web interface, the idea is to get people more engaged on Twitter. New changes also include a wider two-panel interface that looks like the Twitter app for the iPad and a new profile layout.
The changes will bring new opportunities for brand companies and advertisers, but the new changes might make Twitter purists cringe. Will people be able to disable the ads served alongside photographs and video? Will Twitter become a social network? Whatever happens, the integration of multimedia to Twitter’s stream is long overdue.
Written by Ana A.