Meet the New, New Twitter - Now With Brand Pages!

Remember "New Twitter"? Get ready for the "New New Twitter," as the 140-character driven social platform prepares to unveil a redesign. While the video touting the redesigned Twitter makes it sound like it's a great way to hook up with friends, the redesign is featured in a microsite that touts a consistent mobile experience, new user icons (Home, Connect, Discover, Me and Tweet) and a rearranging of the furniture.

The redesign comes as Facebook rolls out its site redesign to promote the Timeline as a means of archiving user activity. It's also ushering in a new era for Twitter as an advertising platform, with Facebook and Google+-like brand pages.

As explained on Twitter's advertising blog and here, the new profile pages for brands give marketers more tools, such as the ability to feature a promoted tweet at the top of the brand's Twitter page.

The blog post adds,

This Tweet helps you highlight your most engaging and important content and better connect with your target audience. The Promoted Tweet on your profile page will appear auto-expanded so that visitors to your page can instantly see the photo or video content that you link to from your Tweet.

This page and the Promoted Tweet are both free of charge and publicly accessible for the whole world to see. Your profile page is your own - your colors, your logo, and your messaging.

Ad Age comments, "Only 21 marketers have access to Twitter's newly launched brand pages thus far, but those in the mix are conceptualizing new content strategies to take advantage of the platform."

Charter brands on-board for the new brand pages (you must have the new version of Twitter in order to view them): @AmericanExpress, @BestBuy, @bing, @chevrolet, @CocaCola, @Dell, @DisneyPixar, @generalelectric, @Heineken, @HP, @intel, @JetBlue, @Kia, @McDonalds, @nikebasketball, @NYSE_Euronext, Paramount Pictures' Mission: Impossible – @GhostProtocol, @pepsi, @Staples, @subwayfreshbuzz, and @VerizonWireless.

Below, more details on the redesigned Twitter:

Home: "Immediately access your favorite features from the lefthand side. Photos, videos and conversations are embedded directly in Tweets so you can see the whole story at a glance. And now everything in Home will appear consistently across computers, iPhones, and Android mobile phones."

Connect: "The new Connect section is where you get in on the conversation. It’s the place to see who has followed or mentioned you, retweeted or favorited one of your Tweets. Connect is your way to keep the conversation flowing."

Discover: "Discover lets you tap into a stream of useful and entertaining information, customized just for you. When you use Discover, you’ll see results reflecting your interests—based on your current location, what you follow and what’s happening in the world. As you use Twitter more, Discover gets even better at serving up more content just for you."

Profile: The new profile section puts you and your interests front and center. Others can Tweet directly to you and view your lists, favorites, followers, photos and more. The Me tab is also where you can stay current on your direct message conversations. The Me tab is your opportunity to introduce yourself to the world."

Tweet: "Click on the new Tweet button and instantly send your message out to the world. No matter where you are within Twitter, it's easy to express yourself. You can upload photos, add your location and link to videos, news stories and more. The Tweet button lets you share what’s happening right now."