Twitter Tweaks App, Adds New Navigation Menu, Fewer Tabs

Still trying to simplify its service for average users, Twitter on Thursday unveiled some changes to its flagship app.

The adjustments include a new side navigation menu, and fewer tabs at the bottom of the app. Android users got a peek at these particular changes, last year, but now iOS users are being invited to the party.

As for aesthetics, Twitter has “refined” and standardized its typography and added bolder headlines, according to Grace Kim, vice president of user research and design at the company.

The idea was to “make it easier to focus on what’s happening,” Kim notes in a new blog post. “Rounded profile photos make it clearer to see what’s being said and who’s saying it.”

For the sake of first-time users, Kim and her team also developed more “intuitive icons” to make it easier to engage with tweets.

“For example, people thought the reply icon, an arrow, meant delete or go back to a previous page,” Kim admits. “We switched to a speech bubble, a symbol most know and love.”

Showing new signs of life, Twitter recently reported strong user growth during the first quarter of 2017. The social giant said it added about 9 million new users -- making it the biggest quarterly bump in years. Analysts were pleasantly surprised by Twitter’s user growth.

“We’re really proud to report accelerating growth and daily active usage … up 14%, year-over-year,” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told investors on an earnings call, in April. However, in Q1, Twitter also reported revenue of $548 million -- down 8% year-over-year.

Y-O-Y, average monthly active users jumped 6% from 319 million to 328 million, during the first quarter. Among other factors, Dorsey attributed the rebound to better policing of trolls, bullies and other bad actors.

“We are seeing a significant decrease in the number of people experiencing abuse on Twitter,” Dorsey said. Twitter is also doing a better job as rolling out new products and meeting the needs of average users, he added.

After leaving Twitter in 2011, cofounder Biz Stone also recently returned to the company on a full-time basis.

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