• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 13, 2018

As part of a years-long effort to simplify its service, Twitter unveiled some big changes to its platform on Wednesday. 

Users can expect to start seeing breaking and personalized news at the top of their timelines, while Twitter is rearranging Moments from a horizontal to vertical format.

“Our research showed us that Moments are easier to use vertically,” Sriram Krishnan, senior director of product management at Twitter, tweeted on Wednesday. “In our tests of this new look, we saw significantly more people using and returning to Moments.” 

As the changes are rolled out, select Moments -- including Sponsored Moments and Moments created by users, those outside of the United States -- will temporarily continue to be horizontal.

“This is happening,” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted. “And really gets closer to what Twitter wants to be.”

The company is also experimenting with topic tabs in Explore, which it hopes will make it easier for users to see what’s happening in news and entertainment.

Additionally, at the top of search results, users can expect to start seeing related news, events and stories.

The changes are build on Twitter’s “Happening now” feature, which keeps sports fans abreast of their teams’ latest standings and scores.

“With these changes, you should get a personalized notification when the game is on and the game at the top of your timeline,” Krishnan said. “Or go into Explore and find it there under ‘Sports’ — or search and find the event there.”

The changes come on the heels of Twitter reporting its second profitable quarter in a row.

During the first quarter, the micro-messaging network reported net income of $61 billion, which was markedly better than the net loss of $62 million that Twitter suffered during the same period a year earlier.

At least in part, Dorsey credited the gains to Twitter succeeding in making it easier for users to follow topics, interests, and events on Twitter.