Twitter photos and videos now displayed in feed
Twitter photos and Vine videos can now be viewed directly in your feed. Previously, only displayed directly in the feed on Discover and Search, there’s no longer a need to click a link when on your homepage. If you’re a mobile Twitter user and haven’t noticed this, you might want to upgrade your Twitter app to enjoy the new ‘visual Twitter’.
However, not everyone has been happy with the change, with many users missing the text only approach.
I really dislike images in the feed. Defeats that whole point of terse 140 char messages. Using twitter a lot less as a result.
— Mike Yudin (@mikeyudin) November 9, 2013
Have I really been gone that long? These images on the twitter feed are freaking me out.
— Ap (@AlterPoser) November 9, 2013
But the change really benefits some accounts like @HistoryInPics who are embracing it by publishing rich visual pictures.
Winter Time In Paris pic.twitter.com/TrU8pwcqT1
— Earth Pics (@EarthPix) November 10, 2013
As a business on Twitter, there’s a number of things you can do to take advantage of this change. Images have always been retweeted more than text only tweets - just like images on Facebook are shared more - and automatic display of photos in the News Feed is only likely to increase this engagement. Significantly more retweets are likely, as a step to view an image (clicking a link) has been removed. More people are likely to see images and more people are likely to retweet.
Vine is Twitter’s own video sharing network and is similar to video on Instagram which was introduced in June - Video comes to Instagram. Vine videos are an incredibly short 6 seconds (or less!) whilst Instagram videos are up to 15 seconds long. Just like images, Vine videos are now automatically displayed in your feed, which could give a real boost to people uploading Vines.
It’s early days for Vine and only a few brands have embraced it; being restricted to 6 seconds it is very limiting. Personally, I prefer the extra time of an Instagram video where at least you say a few sentences. On Vine you only have enough time to say a few words. Both can be used to welcome new customers, answer a question, show off your products or talk about your services. However, whilst Vine videos are automatically displayed in your feed, Instagram videos are not. Twitter own Vine and Facebook own Instagram so you can see what’s happening here.
So the simple message to benefit is: Upload more photos and Vines to encourage more engagement providing you with increased awareness for your business.
If you don’t like images and videos being visible, you can turn previews off, although only in mobile apps and not on the desktop.
What do you think of this change from Twitter? Will you be uploading more photos or experimenting with Vine?
