A quick suggestion, I have. Flip the ticker scroll line to the top with the top menu line and make that menu line bigger vertically so's anyone over 43 can read it from 3 feet way. With your zinc white backgrounds being further away is still better than getting monitor burns.
And switch search with the mail icon and profile pic so that everyone who was used to going to the upper left for the info doesn't get location clicker shock. You all don't have to be exactly like the other social sites.