There was a lot of excitement and blogging about #NewTwitter. Everyone who loves Twitter was excited about the prospect of a new layout, new features, well, a new Twitter. The only problem is, some things are not as easy to use as they were in the old version. In fact, some key features, no longer exist apparently.
Take Twitter "Lists" for example. In old Twitter you could visit someone's profile and see the statistics you need in a clear line across the right hand side, "Tweets, Following, Followers, Listed" and the numbers would show above the titles. Nice and easy to find, use and see at a glance. Exactly what Twitter should be, quick and easy. However, they are now pretty much non existent for listings now.
1, 2, 3, 4...
With new Twitter you have to locate the list section then count the number of times a user has been listed - manually. As the screen shot shows, the "List" section is no longer categorised with Followers etc, and is on its own down the left hand tool bar. It also no longer gives a number telling you the amount of times they have been listed. This may not be an issue for a user who is new to Twitter or simply has not been listed often, but some people are listed hundreds of times, it's not always helpful to waste time counting them to establish how often. In my opinion, if you go to the time and effort of listing someone, it usually means they are worth listing so it was a nice little feature. The higher the number of listings, the more people are in tune and engaged with you and your tweets so arguably it shows you are influential. As a general rule anyway. Thus it's always helpful to have a quick glance at their list number to gage that persons influence and reputation.
Goodbye Twitter Lists?
It is possible this is just a bug and that they will be resolving the missing number issue soon, but if not, it is a little bit awkward. It's not the biggest bug or problem in the world, but many people do heavily reply on lists and watching other peoples listing, so it is a key feature for them in terms of engagement and interaction. It would be a shame to loose it.
It's Not All Bad
Although the now defunct Twitter List number seems to have gone AWOL, we at MarketMeSuite still believe new Twitter is a great update and improvement. It's neat, clean and easy to use. It also helps cut a few corners by having more on the homepage so you don't have to dart about from profile or page trying to find out more information on something or someone. All good companies need a new look and design from time to time (even MarketMeSuite is getting one in the next few days so be sure to check it out!) and this one works in general. All updates bring a little chaos and bug reports, it can't be helped and so hopefully this List number will find its way back to where it belongs - in bold text at the top of the List section! ;)