• Tweet
• SumoMe

• Tweet

Twitter has come out with a new design to spiff up your Twitter Page – you now can create a new Twitter header image that will display above your tweets.

The design update rolled out on September 18, but may not be enabled yet on all accounts. I just got email notification of the new design being accessible on my Twitter account yesterday morning, so making the update is on my to-do list.

The New Twitter Header Image

The header will be the first thing visitors see, whether they are checking out your profile on Twitter itself, or on iPhone/Pad and Android phones.  It’s a long horizontal image running across the top of your Twitter profile (above your tweets).  Go to the design section of your settings when logged into Twitter and scroll down to upload a header image.

How to rock it:

• It’s horizontal, so think landscape and not vertical pictures.  (Vertical pics can be used but might end up looking slightly warped as it’s stretched into the horizontal header.)
• Maximum size is 1,255 pixels x 626 pixels.  Best to go for the maximum, but certainly don’t drop below 640 pixels or it’ll end up looking bad quality.
• Your profile picture (avatar) will still be there, centered in the header.
• Over the header image will be a light colored bio text.  Think of a light colored text on a light colored background…not so easy to see, right?  So, you should go for a  little darker picture to complement the light colored text. You may need to play around with this a little to make sure your bio is clearly visible. An image that is too busy could detract from your deets and make them hard to read.

Need a little inspiration?  Check out this post with visual ideas for great headers! Don’t be afraid to have fun and get creative.

Since I haven’t had the chance to create mine yet, check out this great example from my friend Francisco over at SocialMouths:

Or maybe you need a little guidance with sizing and layout?  If you use Photoshop, check out this handy template from the folks at inlineVision: Free Twitter Header Photoshop Template. (And if you have a designer doing all your graphics, he or she can take advantage of this freebie for you :))

Other Considerations and Additional Tweaks

• With this new design, your bio will really pop – it floats over the header image. Make it count! If you haven’t bothered to create one, or one that you really like, now’s a great time to revisit!
• Photo streams are now easily accessible on iPhone, Android and iPad. Twitter is definitely trying to be more visual. Have you experimented with posting images to Twitter? Why not give it a go? People like visuals!
• I read in this article that you also now have more options with your background image, which can now be seen on the left and right hand side. This is a little vague and I was trying to find more info on that, but was unsuccessful. If anyone has any additional insight on this, would really appreciate you sharing it below!
• You can pin tweets to show at the top of your page, but this is only available to brand pages on Twitter, so not that relevant for most of us small businesses that just run a regular profile. But perhaps this is something we can anticipate in the future…

And voila!  There you have the latest tweaks to Twitter.  Have you made the change to a header image? Feel free to leave a link to your small business’ Twitter profile in the comments so we can check out what you’ve done and get some ideas!

Comments, likes and tweets are always appreciated! Did I mention that I LOVE your feedback?

Tagged as: internet marketing, social media, twitter