Brace yourself the next time you log on to Twitter because your homepage could look a whole lot like Facebook, or Google+ if you used it at all.

First reported by Mashable, the website's assistant features editor Matt Petronzio noticed a major overhaul that completely did away with Twitter's timeline flow. The new layout more heavily features a user's profile photo and banner image, like Facebook's cover photo.

CLICK HERE to see the new layout design first discovered by a Mashable editor.

The stream of tweets is no longer in list form and now appears in boxes reading left to right with an emphasis on photos and content cards. Twitter declined comment on the new design, which was offered to a small random group of users.

The new layout is also right on the heels of Twitter's latest major redesign and is customarily only offered to a small group of users ahead of a potential wide release.

The new layout puts tabs for a user's tweets, followers and following, as well as favorite tweets and lists under the cover photo. Also included in the new layout, a user with it, like Petronzio, can see what any user's profile would look like even if that user does not have the new layout.

James Gellert, chairman and chief executive of the financial analysis firm Rapid Ratings, told the Washington Post Twitter does not have time to waste since the company became public.

"Even they recognize it's not the most intuitive and usable technology," Gellert said. Upgrading Twitter "is going to take time. But they have to demonstrate that they're connecting the dots."

Users are not signing up for the micro blogging site as quickly as the company might hope and users are not spending much time on Twitter as well. The new layout hopes to address both issues by making it look and feel more accessible to new users.

If they eventually become released to all users, the prototype design takes elements from existing social media sites to get more people onto Twitter and keep them there. Users may not be able to read information as swiftly, but it's a move the company needed to make to expand its user base.