In case you missed Twitter’s recent announcement, the world’s most popular micro-blogging site will now allow users to upload photos and video directly to their Twitter feeds. The announcement came on June 1st and CEO Dick Costolo stated the “native photosharing experience will be rolled out to 100% of users over the next couple of weeks.” The new feature will allow users the ability to add hashtags to the photos and videos, which will create real time, searchable albums. Photobucket.com will host the new service, and all users will still own the copyrights to their uploaded content.
Why You Should Care
Twitter tracks what happens in the world as it happens. It played a central role in major social uprisings in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia by giving ordinary citizens the power to easily communicate and organize. It also was the first media outlet to document breaking news such as the earthquake in Japan and Seal Team 6’s raid on Osama bin Laden. Twitter’s impact on how we relay and receive information has been palpable.
Now, imagine that instead of reading a 140-character message about an earthquake, you saw a picture of it. Instead of describing government brutality you shared an image of it. Think of “Tank Man” – the protestor at Tiananmen Square who stood blocking the advance of Chinese tanks and the impact it had on shaping world politics. Now, imagine if that photo was shared in real time, was searchable, and had the potential to spread to millions of users within hours.
Twitter’s new photo and video sharing feature will redefine how we share and interact with events that occur in our lives. From documenting major world events to sharing a new band at your favorite local bar, Twitter will keep us connected to a further degree.
How much impact do you think Twitter’s new features will be? If you do not use Twitter, are these new features enough to get you interested?
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