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Change Reaction - Are You Listening?

Twitter, the very popular micro-blogging service, recently unveiled a new look for their web user interface. They did it with no warning. They just did it. Well, on Twitter, people can immediately react publicly. This case is a great lesson for those of us who release changes. Unfortunately, we don’t usually have easy access to the responses.

Here are a couple of the “tweets” that erupted. Reactions ranged from good, to bad, to frantic and clueless about where a feature went. My comments for clarity are in [ ]. It’s a long random list, but look for the diversity in reactions.

• Look at that... my background is back. Nice going Twitter. [One change was added flexibility in your personalized page background.]

• Has Twitter dropped the Archive tab with the new look? [No, it just moved and got a new label.

• Lovin' the new Twitter look. Love love love. Congrats @ev and team. [Ev is one of the founders of Twitter and users can send him a message directly.]

• A sequence from one user within minutes: What is this new Twitter look...I'm so confused. And - Ok, I'm ok with this new Twitter look...it will just take some getting used to.

• Doesn't look all that different to me but then again I'm very rarely in twitter itself. [there are many third party viewers available for Twitter.]

• Sorta like the new Twitter look. Not that it changed much.

• I hope the flakiness of Twitter yesterday was the fancy change to the look and not...well...just pure flakiness. [The new release was accompanied by some bugginess.]

• Loving Twitter's new look. Functional, but easy on the eyes.

• Also liking the cleaner look of Twitter. The thing to ask, though, is it a diversion from the reliability/scaling issues? [A conspiracy to deflect from the technical issues Twitter had been having? What are you trying to pull? Conspiracy thinking comes up a lot.]

• Twitter I like your new look...very nice. Now let's see if it works. :)

• Hmm, they changed the look of my twitter page... I got confused when I saw this!

• Loving the new look of twitter. Now if I could just get the colors to match my design pic - too many choices!

• Twitter changed its look, and I just signed into Ebay and they kinda changed their look also. Sheesh!

• And the point of the new look of Twitter.com? and the fact it still doesn’t have a duplicate 'Older' button at top

• I like the new look of Twitter.com... Still waiting for transparent windows though... Come on Twitter!

• Unlike Facebook I like the new Twitter look

• Wow new look for Twitter. Everything changes.

• Oh look, Twitter is different.

• The @ sign before 'Replies' makes it look ugly. I don't see the point. How about making it just 'Replies' like before?

• Twitter got a modified look...its slightly different

• And look at you Twitter. Got a little work done I see.

• New Twitter look is ok ... But it's still very basic and blah.

• Ooo... no kidding?! http://twitter.com/home has a new look?!

• Wow, new Twitter. That was a surprise. At first glance I like the new look.

• Good morning Twitties. Does Twitter look different this morning or is it just me?

• All I did was go away from my computer for a short while. When I got back Twitter was changed. I think it's neater look'n

• Holy shifting stylesheets Batman! Twitter has reorged itself - not sure I like the new look.

• New twitter look. change is good.

• SWEET Twitter Layout has changed :) Now I have to redo my background? No matter Love the new look.

• I see twitter's been retwitterfied. Wonder if I lost all my twits that I follow- nope doesn't look like it! whew.

• I fear change. Why does Twitter look funny?

• How do y'all feel about the new look of Twitter?

• Not so sure about the new twitter design but it does look like it could prove itself to be more useful.

• Don't know that I like the "new twitter" look, any comments on this?

• Liking the new twitter look...Just hope this means that it is more stable...

• Hey, Look! They Changed Twitter's look. Yawn!

• Twitter new look is ok by me. i found all the buttons easily enough!

• I think I like new twitter look...need some coffee first before deciding!

• Wow, the new look of web Twitter took me by surprise.

• Gag! Facebook changed its look now twitter. . . but at least not as drastically.

• The new Twitter is lovely, but my avatar doesn't look as cool as in the old interface.

• I do think Twitter has good reasoning for what they did and why. But I really did like the old look better.

• wtf? I hate the new twitter look!

• Twitter has a new look for Fall. Why am I skeptical?

• Don't care much for twitter's new look. At least the microformats are still working!

• Not so sure about this new look of twitter's.

• Wtf when did twitter change its look?

• Im quite confused about the new twitter look.

• Just seen the new look @twitter - seems to be looking good so far. Will reserve judgment till they've completed the redesign.

• Ooh.. look... twitter's "update" button looks all "2.0"... If it improves performance and stability, then all well and good.

• My Twitter! - changes look only cosmetic - will it work faster with less down-time? Productivity and Performance - is anything reliable?

• Don't think I like the new look twitter.

• Good morning. Wow... new look for Twitter! I like it...

• New @twitter look, still no mobile replies/DM page, and cut off from SMS :(

• Twitter new look~~I kinda like the tabbing system on the sidebar :-)

• New twitter look .. getting ready for expansion it looks like.

• Yep, I like the new Twitter look. Kind of happy that the changes are not dramatically different.

• Okay...you're more confusing than the new twitter look!

• I like the new Twitter look, let's just hope the service stays up.

• Slightly thrown off by twitter's subtle new look and feel.

• While I don't like the new Twitter the new Facebook has some nice features, esp. the phone book to look up your friends phone numbers.

• I like the new look of Twitter

• @ev pls look-I am upset @ how the individuality has been taken out of Twitter.

• I still don't like the look of twitter. period.

• Liking the new look of Twitter. Very clean.

• Does this really look like a twitter make over? Nothing dramatic has changed actually.

• Bold sidebar items look unfinished, ask any of the css gurus on twitter for advice

• Whoaaa. After 2 long years of using this, Twitter has a new look. Cool. Me likey. Haha!

• New look for twitter AND firefox all within 5 minutes? i think my mind's gonna explode!

• Look at the new twitter design! I think the old one was better, but it's ok!

• Suggestion: Change color of highlighted tab? Or close it, with a rounded edge, making it look like it is raised above the page.

• Hmmm not sure about this new twitter look

• New look Twitter sucks.

• Oh look they kind of updated twitter....

• While I prefer the new Twitter look, one bad thing remains unchanged: @Replies on it's own page. WHY!? Way-back-when it was interspersed!!

• Ok starting to like the new look twitter although unsure of the font in italics under tweets

• I don't know how I feel about the new twitter loo
  

• Hmmm... since when did Twitter change its web look? Feels a bit strange. But, seems to be quicker. Or, am I imagining it?

• Not sure if i'm happy with twitter for its new look.

• So where would you have taken it? What would your ideal Twitter look like this morning?

• Not keen on Twitter's new look, but I love the latest version of Yahoo Messenger!

• Put a search box back on the main page please. i quite often look for bloggers and public people who don't list their username

• I only noticed Twitter had changed when you mentioned it looks weird! I must be unobservant! (But I agree, it does look weird)

• I wonder if there's going to be as big a backlash against Twitter as there is against Facebook for their new look (PS I love them both!)

• I don't find the twitter update at all confusing, nor do i find facebook's new look confusing.

• New Twitter look...it's OK.

• Oh my! twitter has changed since yesterday! I really ought to look more often!

• Liking the new look of twitter - once i find everything. still adjusting to the new facebook. not sure about that one yet!

• Wow new Twitter doesn't look good with my colors. Time for a change.

• New look to twitter? change is hard.

• Is it me, or does twitter look different?

Some otherwise intelligent people freaking out when a piece of their world was changed. These are mostly early adopters, comfortable with technology. But, they’re human beings. Typical of what we cause as change leaders. Even if improving a situation we can‘t take for granted that everyone sees the improvement, at least at first.

The comments can be categorized into the following groups:

• It’s never good enough.
• Nice, but what about this…?
• Freak out.
• What’s the conspiracy?
• I don’t like it.
• I can’t find what I want.
• Not that big a deal.
• The world has shifted.
• Sarcasm – a chance to vent.
• Too much change. Other things in my life are changing too.
• Not enough change.

How do people react when you change their old comfortable slippers? Even if they weren’t that fond of the old slippers.

Can you collect this type of data for your changes? How do you listen and participate in the conversation? What would you do to influence reaction to your change? Also, what do you think about surprise user interface releases?

Communication is happening…Do you want to participate?

Your reaction? Send me a note.

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