Twitter-ta-woo
Twitter has boosted its Android app offering, with a new look and extra functionality.
In a blog post, Twitter said its official app wasn't previously among the top 10 most-used Twitter apps but in the last 2 month usage has doubled and it is now in the top 5 among twitter.com, m.twitter.com, Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for BlackBerry.
The company said its revamped Android app ‘looks and feels more like our other official Twitter applications and provides a more consistent experience across platforms and devices.'
Android users can now use Twitter even if they do not have an account or haven't signed in. They can browse through interests and trends, plus see suggested users in categories such as fashion, entertainment and travel, or search to see what people are saying about the topics they care about. Android owners can also sign up for Twitter within the app if they are seduced by the experience.
Twitter has also shaken up the design of the app as when users sign in they will now see their timeline with icons along the top for @mentions, messages and lists.
"This layout makes it fast and simple to navigate Twitter on your Android device," it said.
The @mentions tab now includes Retweets so they are in the same place as replies to give users a better way ‘to better understand which Tweets are sparking interest and engagement'.
The app now boasts universal search to let users find tweets with the term they are looking for, tweets sent by people near their location or people whose user name includes the search term.
And finally the revamped app lets people scan their mobile address book to find which of their friends have Twitter accounts. The app works on phones running Android 2.1 or higher.
Here is an image of the newly re-designed app.
