Twitter's image-uploading and sharing service, which has been partially available since June, is now open to all users. The feature allows users to Tweet pictures without the use of third-party hosts such as TwitPic and yFrog.
It is quite simple to use. All users need to do is click the camera icon in the "What's happening?" box, and they will be able to upload any image file under 3MB to a Tweet. Users can preview their Tweet before they publish it. Once published, the Tweet will contain a link to the image on pic.twitter.com. The photos are hosted by Photobucket.
Users can also add hashtags to their images for Twitter's new photo and video search feature. To see this, search for something like you usually would, and then click the "display media" icon in the right column. Relevant images and videos then appear. Below is a screenshot of the image and video search results for "Barack Obama."
Though Twitter has confirmed that users can still post pictures through third-party hosts such as TwitPic and yFrog, one would have to imagine that this new feature will ultimately mean the demise of such hosts. Now, sharing photos is easier than ever, and there is simply no need to do it any other way than through Twitter's photo function.
This is not the end of Twitter's new photo-related features. The social network has said it plans to soon introduce galleries for each user. With galleries, any user will be able to see all the pictures any other user has posted. In this way, Twitter is becoming more social, and more like Facebook. Additionally, though Twitter's photo feature is not yet available for mobile apps, one would have to speculate that it will be soon. Twitter has not commented on the matter.
What do you think of Twitter's new photo service? Will you use it? Share your opinion below. And for more Twitter news, visit the Hudson Horizons blog.