Twitter has rolled out a brand new feature that considerably boosts its accessibility and outright explodes its user discovery. Upon searching a name – y’know, like all those times you’ve searched your own – Twitter now brings to your attention possible accounts you might consider following with that name. Not exactly breakthrough in concept, but certainly in execution.
Simply type in a name and Twitter will go grab people you might have been looking for, displaying them in a handy list above the traditional roll of tweets. That this list is horizontal is a slick design decision in terms of directing the user’s attention, and that I can follow someone with a single click is even smarter. I was disappointed when my name returned no results, but I guess there’s important, and then there’s Twitter important. Better luck next time, me. Oh, don’t give me that look. You’re probably already Twittering yourself in a new tab.
While this new feature is awesome if you’re looking for your favourite celebs to follow, it is, however, a double-edged sword. Celebrity accounts will now no doubt see more attention than ever, but at the same time, so will fake accounts masquerading as the real thing.
Like LeBron James’ Elbow, there. I have reason to believe that is not LeBron Jame’s elbow.
