Twitter’s highly anticipated redesign which includes new features is released

Twitter Inc. (NYSE:TWTR) has finally released its much vaunted new design including new features that hadn’t even been previewed during the build up to the launch. At first glance the new look is very reminiscent of the recent changes to Facebook timelines with a similar customized picture and background and is a big change from what was the normal Twitter look.

Included in the new features is a very handy tool that allows the user to take a particular Tweet out of a cascade of them and put it at the top of the new profile next to the picture. This, in fact, also allows the user to somewhat alter the focus of that particular cascade of Tweets by emphasizing their particular view on it by the choice of which Tweet to highlight.

Another significant change is a new emphasis being placed on the most popular topics a user is Tweeting about as they now appear on the screen in a larger and bolder font assumingly to show their relative importance compared to the others. There are no details as yet on how this particular new feature chooses which ones to highlight but as with everything Twitter, all will be revealed in time.

The final and most useful addition to the new Tweet profile is the ability to filter the Tweets that are being receiving such as all Tweets or only Tweets with photos or videos which, in certain cascades, could evolve into quite a time saver. What is unsettling about the new functionality is the direction that Twitter appears to be taking which is towards a Facebook style format rather than maintaining their own unique identity.