Twitter Gets a Fresh Face

Twitter has unveiled a new homepage.  The last refresh to the page was last summer, when the service unveiled a site that focused on trending topics.  The new site looks sharp and much cleaner than its predecessor.  It now features a "who's here" section that displays avatars for some of the most popular users who are currently logged into the service, a "top tweets" that updates live with tweets from popular users, and scrolling trending topics.
This new page gets ride of some of odd looking hash tags and takes the focus of the page off of tending topics and moves it to popular users which can be seen in the "who's here" as well as the "top tweets" sections.
What do you think of the new homepage? Let us know in the comments!

Facebook Rolls Out Redesign

Facebook has started pushing their new home page redesign to some users. Not all users have gotten the new home page just yet, but they're rolling it out in waves, so if you haven't gotten it yet, just keep an eye out. The new home page is attempting to simplify the home page Facebook experience, and I think it succeeds. I think this is the best home page redesign Facebook has pushed in the last year and a half or so.

The navigation has been bumped back to the left column from the persistant bar on the bottom, and available buddies are now viewable in the left hand column as well. The top bar has been simplified into a communication-centric hub. Friend requests, messages and notifications (previously on the bottom left next to chat) each have their own icon-dropdown on the top left and the settings have all been bundled into an 'Account' dropdown on the top right.

All the changes aside, the smartest thing Facebook has done this time around isn't a change to the product, but a welcome buffer into the newness that is the redesigned home page. The first time a user logs in to the new homepage, they are greeted with a pleasant can't-miss notification with a quick rundown and an invitation to learn more. Clicking learn more takes the user to an in-depth explanation of what has changed and why.

I think this is the reason why this redesign has been accepted so much more easily than any other change has been. Almost every time Facebook makes a change, it is received with a burning hatred, but for the first time, I think Facebook made a good, logical change, improved usability, and did it all without damaging more relationships with users.

One more photo after the jump.

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