SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter is turning its text-messaging website into a multimedia showcase by adding a new pane that will make it easier for its 160 million users to check out photos and video.
The redesign unveiled last week may compel people to linger on Twitter’s website for longer periods and come back more frequently, making it a more attractive ad vehicle.
“We are still figuring out all the new possibilities,” Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said.
The facelift splits the website into two panes. One is devoted to the 90 million messages, or “tweets,” posted on Twitter each day, and the other features the images contained within the text. Until now, most links to photos and video have been displayed on other websites or browser tabs.
The new look further underscores Twitter’s emergence as a major communications hub.
Twitter has evolved from a geeky hangout when it started four years ago to a worldwide phenomenon today. People are mainly opening accounts now so they can follow the tweets from the friends, family, celebrities, media outlets and lawmakers that interest them.
These spectators, or “lurkers,” tend to only publish their own observations periodically.
