Socialmedialand

Posts Tagged ‘twitter updates’

I normally use Tweetdeck, so I didn’t even notice the change in Twitter’s UI until (ironically) people I follow started tweeting about it.

Twitter Integrated Search Functionality

Assuming you’re like me, you might not have even seen this yet so I’ll explain. Twitter has updated the side bar navigation to embed a search box and the trending topics list right there on your profile. The search results show up on your profile as well; they come up where your feed normally is. There’s an additional option to save that search – all your saved searches will appear as shortcuts under the search bar, above the trending topics.

Everyone is talking about how cool it is. And it is cool. But why? Why did Twitter spend the time to take the same basic functionality from http://search.twitter.com and integrate it into your profile? Here are my two possible theories (based on my thoughts alone):

Facts

Twitter is extremely popular. Their popularity has been growing exponentially in the last few months alone, and if I remember correctly (without double checking my facts) they’ve grown 1000% in the last year.

All those growth and popularity numbers are based on visits to the site, and they know that as many people as visit the site there are twice as many (probably, maybe more) who use applications like TweetDeck, Twitterrific or Twhirl instead of visiting Twitter.com.

People who use Twitter regularly know that they can often get updated news from Twitter before it hits anywhere else (think attacks in Dubai and the crash in the Hudson.)

Twitter is beginning to feel pressure to come up with an effective revenue model. Sure they’ve got venture capitalists. Sure they’re not quite desperate for a way to find money. But they must be thinking about it on a regular basis.

Conclusion #1

The update to the UI is a bid to make visiting Twitter.com more valuable than using services like TweetDeck, etc. If they make it so that you’d rather visit the actual site, their traffic numbers go up. If their traffic numbers go up…they could attempt an ad-based revenue model a la Facebook or Myspace.

I think it’s obvious that they are trying to increase the amount of people who use the site versus third party apps by making the site more appealing and easy to use. As for why they’re doing that, I’m just speculating. Twitter is in a unique position because their initial openness with their API (which everyone loves) has made it so that everyone else is able to capitalize and build on Twitter’s functionality and the result is that you don’t have to go to Twitter.com to use Twitter. 

The other networks didn’t start that way, which is why they can support advertising on their sites. For example, you have to go to Facebook.com to really be able to use it. Sure you can do limited things from other places, but you’re still probably going to go to the actual Web site most of the time; meaning there will be impressions for advertisers to buy. Twitter is the opposite. I get more functionality everywhere else and I only need to go to actual Web site for limited things – like checking on my followers and following people back.

What’s Next

I think we’re going to start seeing more updates to the Twitter UI to make it as robust as other services. As it is right now, this update doesn’t even come close to challenging TweetDeck or Twitterific for their users. From Tweetdeck, I can have saved searches, trending topics, AND I can organize my feed by groups, use built in URL shorteners, and share pictures and videos using Twitpic and 12seconds, all from the same interface. Until Twitter can do that, I don’t think they’re going to make a significant dent in the amount of people using third party apps.

Conclusion #2

My other theory is that Twitter is looking to get a piece of the Google pie. Since Twitter is quick and viral, it’s an effective way to get news out and get it spread to millions of people. The update to the UI was based solely on search capability and since Twitter lets you save a search, and create a feed of that search – you have instant access to that information and you can also export and display those results anywhere. For example, CNN could create a tip line where, if you include the hashtag #cnntip, it shows up in an “Twitter updates” box on their homepage. Of course that could be easily hijacked, so there are some logistics to work out. But imagine if the Twitpic of flight 1549 going down in the Hudson had been tagged with that – it would have gotten into mainstream news that much quicker.

This theory also explains why trending search terms were highlighted – to try to increase the benefit of the viral side of Twitter. If a topic looks interesting, you might search for it as well, and then if you retweet the news you find you’re increasing the volume of that same topic, continuing the trend. This would make Twitter a go-to place for news and information; like a leaner version of Digg with the search capability of Google delivered in a real-time updated feed.

What’s Next

Like I said, the logistics included in this are a little hairy, so I think we’ll see Twitter trying to work some of that out. Hashtags will get updated – they’ll become links in the tweets on Twitter (they already are on TweetDeck and other apps.) We might see a more “homepage” like entry portal to Twitter with trending topics and news displayed (making it easy to retweet…) Basically anything that will increase the viral nature of Twitter and help to classify tweets into topics and categories are activities that would support this theory.

In reality, these theories aren’t necessarily exclusive; a mix of both could be closer to the truth than either one. What do you think? Disagree with my conclusion, or have your own take? Leave me a comment!

Update: I saw this post on the possibility of Twitter using the tip link space for advertising in the future…hmm..