Twitter’s new night mode for desktop eases eye strain for night owls

It’s been a long time coming, but the Twitter team has finally gotten around to offering the same mode for its desktop website. This means that night owls who like to tweet from their PC or laptop — or folks who simply prefer low-light settings in their home — can now switch Twitter’s web interface to darker colors that are much easier on the eyes.

The San Francsico-based company announced the new feature on Wednesday, though it had been testing the option with select users over the last few weeks.

It’s quick to access: Simply click on your profile image at the top right of your display and you’ll see “night mode” at the bottom of the drop down list that appears. Click on it and you’re away.

Twitter introduced night mode for iOS and Android in 2016, but clearly felt little need to rush out the same feature for desktop. But now it’s here, offering Twitter users not only a less harsh display for the eyes, but also an alternative look that some might prefer over the traditional white interface, regardless of whether they access it in darker surroundings.

Broadening service

While Twitter continues to make small but useful tweaks to its service, the company in recent months has also been making some significant investments in a bid to broaden its service and attract new users.

Live video has been at the center of its expansion plans, though it’s having to compete with the likes of Facebook and Amazon to secure deals.

A few months back we learned that Twitter had inked deals with 12 media outlets for original video content, including Bloomberg, BuzzFeed News, the PGA Tour, MLB, The Players’ Tribune, and Live Nation.

But the company is still struggling to grow its user base, which for the latest recorded quarter stood at 328 million globally, identical to the quarter before. It even lost 2 million users in the U.S. over the same period, with the figure dropping to 68 million.