Twitter today announced an image gallery and browser that makes it easy for you to browse all the images ever shared by any user (at least up to 100, and only back as far as January 1, 2010). It works in conjunction with a number of popular image sharing services, including Twitter, yFrog, TwitPic, Instagram and other image sharing services supported in Twitter's details pane.
The feature can be seen on any Twitter user profile. Near the top of the right column, you'll see up to four thumbnail images under the heading “Recent Images.” You can browse right from the profile screen by clicking the arrow buttons to scroll through the thumbnails (very similar to the interface on a Flickr photostream).
Clicking view all opens a lightbox with a gallery of thumbnails. Clicking any thumbnail opens a larger view, and clicking the larger view takes you to the source page (i.e. Instagram).
Your photos shared in public tweets are publicly browse-able, but you can remove them by deleting the original tweet with the link. Note that this won't remove the image from whatever service you originally shared it on.
So far, this feature is only available in the web version of Twitter. It's yet to be seen whether this will be rolled out in updates to their desktop and mobile apps.
Thanks for pointing this out to me, Jeff. You’ve successfully answered my questions about what it is – thank you for always being such a great social media resource.
I noticed the pics on the side of my twitter page but didn’t know the deets about it. Love the Gallery too… I’m going to check mine out right now. Thanks for sharing Jeff!
This is a nice addition to Twitter. I think it will definitely increase engagement. It’s nice to be able to see an overview of photos posted by a specific person. It gives you an idea if you want to follow them or not too.
Yeah, it’s handy to see the pics, but also like a trip down memory lane. I quickly forget what I’ve shared — or not shared.
In other news, I’ve read many times that tweets with URLs or pics get retweeted more than those without. And from personal experience, I like to read tweets using Flipboard on my iPad, and the ones with pics or links definitely get a lot more attention from me.
I hardly go to twitter.com but noticed this the other day and thought it was a great feature. It’s great to see what others have been up to and what I might have missed. Thanks for a great write up!
Thank you for the comprehensive review.
I got embarrassed when Twitter posted a photo I shared with my girlfriends. It was not for everyone! It was a personal post, not related to business, and I wasn’t ready to share my new boyfriend with my family! Now everyone knows…. At least he looks like Rex Harrison.
Some people have been upset about the new feature, but forget that these images are already publicly shared and accessible. They’re just more obvious. It’s probably a good reminder to think twice before sharing “that photo.” 🙂
Saw this this morning and was playing with it. Looks like an interesting add to Twitter.
Thanks for the outline, Jeff! I haven’t played much with the new photo gallery yet but it’s an interesting idea. Twitter is typically so character-driven so it’ll be fascinating to see how well the photo integration is received.
Good and nice addition even though it can be upsetting for some people…
I personally enjoy it as it reminds me what I have found interesting recently.