Ember Regis

As many users will have already seen, Twitter is undergoing a significant change in its layout and usability. The timeline now occupies the left hand side, while the right hand side will feature embedded photos and videos along with related tweets.

Having negotiated partnerships with major media content sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, TwitPic and Flickr, Twitter’s users will now be able to see linked content without leaving the site or having to open a new window. The advantages of this new ease of access are clear, particularly for organisations that rely on their videos being shared around social networking sites.

A disadvantage is that the increased complexity will confuse casual users and unpracticed organisations. Like when Facebook updated its layout, there will be brief cries of outrage followed by most users efficiently adapting. The disadvantage remains that, with the new level of complexity, users will have so much content to look at that individual videos will not gather any more attention than they did before. Wired (http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/09/twitter-announces-media-rich-twitter/) notes that it looks like there is plenty of room for advertising, another complication that will make it difficult for your organisation’s content to get noticed.