Twitter Experiments with New Status Notification, Faster Response
It appears Twitter is experimenting with some additional tweaks that may make status updates easier and faster for its users and could help decrease the back end load on its servers.
A semi transparent notification bar (see screenshot below), slides down from the top of the screen when you update your status via the Web. While in itself, the feature may not appear earth shattering, the fact that updating now feels extremely fluid and is almost instantaneous makes us wonder whether Twitter will begin caching tweets for delivery to its servers.
In the past, when you hit the update button, it would take several seconds for Twitter to 'confirm' that the tweet has been created before updating your page. With the notification bar, the process is immediate and will definitely be seen as a plus by users.
Is it possible that Twitter is employing some mechanism between the browser and the back end? For instance batching tweets (or any request) before they hit the server, to decrease load?
Twitter hasn't made a formal announcement yet, and clearly they're still testing the new bar as it is not yet available to all users. But if you are one of the fortunate few, as always, we'd love your opinion.
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I've noticed this notification bar recently for other actions on the twitter site. Such as changing an option in your settings. Very fast response and clean way to notify users that the action is complete.
I had noticed this as well and was wondering what the purpose could be. I've noticed a lot of load on Twitter lately... perhaps due to Easter holidays to some extent? Having this notification can be handy, to know that even if it's not showing yet, it's been received.
Shall see if it helps.
Karen
I've had the new bar for a little over a month now. It seems to update nicely but I can't really tell a difference on my end if it speeds it up any.
Seems good as long as its creating efficiencies.
Drives me nuts though when that bar comes down because you can't access the home link or any of the others until it disappears. Maybe this is part of the increase in efficiency. But it drives me nuts.
@Kristy, I totally agree. I've had the bar for several weeks now and for whatever reason there's no button to 'close' it, so you have to wait for it to finish loading.
It's been a bit hit or miss as far as actually showing up and working.
Have had the bar for a couple weeks but don't really see a change in speediness. Lately the web interface has been very iffy with loading so even if it's made the backend faster/more efficient the huge growth in users isn't being matched by more processing power which is bringing about our favorite animal more and more, the fail whale.
I had the bar show up a few weeks ago. I agree with Kristy, the bar comes down and that is nice but I can't navigate until it goes up again. I haven't noticed any significant time savings in the updating of the tweets. Of course I'm thinking there are more changes to come so I will be patient.
I have the new update thingie and for me, it's just a distraction.
Wow. Announcing AB testing? This isn't news.
Hasn't Twitter been doing this for like a month and a half now? It's nice that they do it, not having to completely reload the page each time someone updates is probably helping Twitter quite a bit with stability issues. But, with Oprah and Ashton Kutcher on Twitter now, I'm still seeing whales all the time.
Twitter needs something like Outlook Track-It (an add-on for outlook) that reminds you to follow up to emails. If Twitter can have a similar plugin, then it'll be used more for personal messaging.
I've noticed this bar too..the only thing is that its going to be harder to keep up watching what people say when tweets spit out so quickly..
I've been tweeting everyday but I don't see the bar yet.
twitter is growing everyday.
This bar would definitely make updating more effective. But I see none of it my Twitter page. Maybe, they have not chosen me for the experiment - not one of the "lucky" few I guess.
The bar is so huge, Distracting, not very transparent and can't be dismissed by user.
It must have a close button (though it closes automatically)
Must be more transparent and must not hide the links beneath it.
The links beneath it must be still clickable and
ideally, it must be a (customizable)box, rather than a bar!
Kristy & Jonathan (#4 & #5) - agreed. It doesn't seem to do anything for me. I've been noticing it for the last week or so.
You can just click on the bar and it will hide immediately.
Twitter has to improve the user experience if they are to monetize the service. With the high level of fail whales and less than groovy IU. They are loosing out to apps like TweetDeck and Nambu. I only use the Twitter website when my other API's run out.
I haven't seen this new bar yet, but I have seen a lot of fail whales! Possibly because of the Oprah affect?
I am not able to see the bar
When will Twitter remember where you left off and load the tweets in descending order in time, the oldest ones first (from the point you closed out...)
I actually found it a bit annoying to start with, perhaps they could make it smaller or more transparent. Still the speed increase is a welcome update.
I am still unable to see the bar :-( may be it is more transparent
Ajax is nice for user convinience - no doubt. But every additional request to the server produces load. I don't mind if a tweet comes a minute or two later.
@chris
I'm interested in this kind of information, like the many other RWR readers that commented on this topic.
I seem to see it on IE, but not Firefox.
I agree with those who say that it's a bit annoying, as you can't see the "home" button until it's faded.
This is a great idea. Half of the time using the current notification system you don't know if a follow has gone through or not unless you refresh the page.
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mypctechs
I think it will be great improvement for twitter...
I've also noticed how speedy message delivery has been since the introduction of the update notification bar. The bar can get kind of annoying though since it happens to cover the top of Twitter for me all the time for 2 seconds too long. You get used to it I guess.
I wonder what other little nifty features Twitter will introduce next.
I'm guessing the drop-down bar will become space for ads. Makes sense and does not interfere with custom profiles.
However, it should not cover the links at the top of the page. That is frustrating.
I have been seeing this for a while and I noticed the speed of the tweets were updating.
I also informs you when you are tweeting at the limit
RE: http://friendfeed.com/e/b1c76986-2f04-416c-a783-f5eb889b640c/Is-anyone-else-seeing-this-on-Twitter/
I have it - breaks my Flock (but then again everything breaks Flock). MSIE is fine, and it's a bit faster.
Seems good as long as its creating efficiencies.
yes good.
Is it possible that they are trying to prevent double posting? The delay maybe got people to do it again before the page updated?
Re: Outlook Track-It.
I use Outlook Track-It, but only for my business. For personal use, I am okay for things like Twitter, but for business, Outlook Track-It addon has really improved social stuff on Outlook.
I have the new update thingie and for me...!!
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haven't noticed any significant time savings in the updating of the tweets. Of course I'm thinking there are more changes to come so I will be patient.
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