The new Twitter and why you need to embrace it

I just finished having my Twitter profile page redesigned as part of my brand-unity campaign.  Now, it matches my blog and website in look and feel.   

Then, yesterday, I noticed that there's a 'new Twitter' I can try.  And when I do, my redesigned Twitter page doesn't fit the specs anymore.  Ouch.  So, like many do in this situation, I click back to the old Twitter and all is good.  At least for me, in this situation. 

Do I really think that the old Twitter will end up winning?  No way.  Eventually, we'll all convert to the new Twitter, just like we did the the new Facebook(s) or Yahoo.  It's the unstoppable force of continual improvement.  The longer you wait to use it or produce for it, the bigger the window of non-functionality you'll have.   For many of us, we still have the "New Coke Hope" syndrome, where we try and convince ourselves that the honchos will reconsider their move, wipe out all the redesign work and just keep things as-is for several (more) years.  Don't hold your breath, Coke's cancellation of New Coke was an 'outlier event.'  There's better research tools to avoid that now. 

So, today I'm going to buck up and ask my friends at OutThink to go back to the drawing board, so our new Twitter profile page matches the new Twitter design spec.  I'm not going to sit around complaining about it or pining for the status quo.  You should too.  

There's a bigger point here: Don't grow attached to your work.  Things change, and sometimes, we've wasted our time.  Consider it practice.  The ability to let go, when letting go's the order of the day, is the difference between growing or dying during times of disruptive change.  Grow attached to your purpose, your mission, your accomplishments.  That's something only YOU can redesign. 

 

Comments

[Monica Lee]

oh, a good blog for this week. I just wrote a small (ok not so small) blog post about why the Gap should have kept their logo but changed the way they sell clothes! It is about figuring out what to change and what NOT to change! (love your tweets btw!)

[Ron W]

Tim,
I thought this was going to be a post about all the cool, new things you can do with the new Twitter.
Instead, it's about embracing change. The "Twitter cheese" is moving; can we move with it?
Nice thoughts; thanks for sharing them.