Twitter.com has a new look, and its a big deal.  Twitter has struggled to find its place in the social media sphere.  Nobody can deny that it has been a rapidly growing phenomenon.  Ask Ashton Kutcher or Rick Sanchez.  Shoot, I can tweet from my cell phone!  (Shameless plug: Follow me @ twitter.com/chinocharles)

Twitter’s move to a search-centric home page is a big change for a company that has had well-documented troubles monetizing their current model.  No, it still doesn’t give the cute little blue bird a revenue stream.  However, it instantly makes the main page (and, in turn, the site as a whole) more relevant.  When a story about a tweet pops up on the news the home page will now become a focal point of the discussion.  Being able to search public tweets as a non-user also adds value to those with accounts.  One group that pops into mind are retailers and businesses that decide to avidly use Twitter as a promotional tool.

Could paid search on Twitter be far away?  Does Twitter have something it could learn from Google and the other search power players?

Twitter has been an aquired taste for me personally, but the longer it is around the more I like it.  This change in Twitter’s functionality may seem like small potatoes, but I’m calling it a big deal.