Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? And that includes social channels. Twitter is experimenting with yet another profile redesign, channeling Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest's image-heavy formats in a yet-to-be-released update. Mashable reports that the experimental profile redesign features a large, left-justified profile picture and a background photo placed top-center, much like a Cover Photo on Facebook.
In January Twitter completed the rollout of its latest profile design update. The mobile-inspired facelift cleans up the messaging service's design a bit, giving users a chance to add more customization to the coloring of their feeds.
But, of course, Twitter is already thinking about its next generation profiles. Inside the feed of the experimental Twitter profile, tweets look as if they responsively resize to shrink and expand depending on the content in the post and the other tweets that appear nearby (think Pinterest). Images and multimedia are featured more prominently than text-only posts in this format.
For PR and communications pros who manage brand pages, that greater emphasis on multimedia isn't necessarily remarkable, as photos and videos have been constantly usurping text on every social media platform.
Yet the change in the layout of the Twitter feed, the first since the original iteration of the social network, is shaping up to be a striking departure. If the next public release of Twitter eschews the familiar format of new tweets arriving in a chronological stack, then expect major changes in the way brands strategize regarding the platform.
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