With the Twitter IPO looming, many are wondering what the ramifications will be to the user experience. According to analysts, not much will change. One of Twitter's greatest attributes has always been a positive user experience. The platform is clean and simple, and has been that way since day one. Unlike Facebook, who is constantly redesigning and overhauling their interface, user's have always been able to count on the Twitter they know and love.
Now that we have been reassured our day-to-day experience will not change much after the IPO, lets find out what will be different:
To begin, Twitter will most likely expand its international presence, specifically in Latin America and southeast Asia. This will be more of a behind-the-scenes type of change, so users will almost certainly not notice an impact on their experience. The next thing that Twitter's 240 million monthly active users may notice is an increase in new features and partnerships, for example shopping. Twitter recently hired the former president of Ticketmaster, Nathan Hubbard, to reportedly help bring a better shopping feature to the Twitter feed. This has the potential to be a HUGE change to the Twitter platform and online commerce as a whole. After all, how many times have you seen something on Twitter that you wanted to buy? If Nathan and Twitter can figure out a way to seamlessly integrate this feature, it could certainly be a game changer!
So, will Twitter continue to keep the user experience its number one priority post IPO? Only time will tell. We believe Twitter has always done a great job of adding thoughtful and useful features that actually enhance user experience, rather than just add revenue to the bottom line. We're excited to see what Twitter has in store for us. Of course, we will probably see more advertising one way or the other, but we have confidence that Twitter will do so in the least obtrusive way possible.
Which way do you think Twitter will go? Will they sacrifice user experience for marketing dollars or stay true to their user first ideals?
- Mike & Samantha