Twitter Embedding Photos and Videos in Stream
Mashable is reporting that a new Twitter setting called “Tweet Media” is rolling out to some Twitter’s users, "strongly suggesting that the company will soon embed videos and photos in the stream."
Tweet Media, as it's called, was accessed by Mashable and others have been able to access under Twitter’s account settings, according to the report. Apparently, the system asks you whether or not you want to show photos and videos from everyone. It also comes with the following description of the setting: “By default, you’ll only see images and videos shared by people you’re following, and reveal those by people you’re not. Check this box to see media from everyone on Twitter.”
This move totally makes sense for Twitter.
Just peak at your Twitter steam and look at how many people are sharing video and photos. However, the traffic is being driven elsewhere — Twitpic, Twiddeo, etc. If Twitter, can keep multi-media on their site, it will keep traffic on the site and make the experience much richer for those who use the website as opposed to third-party tools.
In an update to the post, Mashable reported that the setting was eventually removed from their account.
However, they reached out to Twitter and got this response:
“We’re constantly exploring features and settings. What you saw was a small test of a potential consumption setting for inline media. We show inline media on our own iPhone and Android apps.”Whether this functionality gets switched on for the millions of Twitter users or not, it's pretty clear that the company is looking to improve the user experience.
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