Twitter has had a makeover. They have redesigned the site with a new look, brand pages, and improved functionality. Whether or not this effort to remain relevant in the social media world will work remains to be seen, but the new design is worth a look.
According to their announcement, they will slowly roll out the new version. If you can't wait, you can get it now if you have access to an iPhone, iPod (with Internet access), iPad, or Droid. The directions Twitter provides are simple, but they didn't work for me as easily as implied.
"Download the latest version of Twitter for iPhone or Twitter for Android to get access to the redesigned Twitter on your computer."
It sounded so easy that I expected to invest a couple of minutes in transitioning from the old Twitter to the new one. I upgraded the Twitter app on my iPod, signed in, tweeted a couple of times, and then checked it out on my computer. My excitement turned to disappointment when I saw the old version:
Confident that it was the cookies or cache, I deleted all of my browsing history on my PC, removed my account on the iPod, added the account back, tweeted a couple of times, and returned to my desktop. It was still the old version.
Could it be the browser? I closed Firefox, deleted browsing history from Explorer, and opened Twitter. It was still the old version. UGH! This was not turning into a fun experience.
Maybe it would work with Chrome? Nope.
Opera? Nope.
Safari? Nope.
When all else fails, start over. Thinking it could be an iPod issue, I uninstalled the Twitter app from the Droid, downloaded the new version, logged in and tweeted a bit before returning to the desktop.
After clearing out the cache and cookies for all of my browsers and rebooting my computer, I tried again. And, again, there wasn't a new version of Twitter. My punching bag started calling my name. Loudly. A few rounds later, I felt better but there still wasn't access to the new Twitter. I walked away for a few hours. When I returned, lo and behold, I had access to the redesigned platform.
Wondering which parts worked, I tried it with other accounts. Here is what worked:
- Download the latest version of the Twitter app to your iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Android.
- Log in to Twitter and use it for a minute or two.
- Clear out your browsing history on your PC (sorry Mac users, I didn't test it on a Mac. Presumably, it works the same way.)
- Wait. Using the punching bag to release your frustrations is optional. The wait varied from a few minutes to a couple of hours.
- Login to Twitter on your computer while holding your mouth just right.
If you try this, please share your experience so it will help others. Happy Tweeting!